


Worst Laid Plans

by 10Blue10



Series: The Heart Bind Saga [6]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Christianity, Gen, cross-cultural dragon mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-04-28 06:20:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14443221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10Blue10/pseuds/10Blue10
Summary: Trader Johann's new Christian cabin boy believes dragons are demons, and that the Berkians are heathens who need to be saved. Meanwhile, a couple of bounty hunters think they have the perfect plan to get to Hiccup - use his wife as a ransom/bait. The idiots. Seeing the lengths these people will go, Hiccup decides on an extreme plan to get the bounty hunters off his back for good.





	1. Part One

On a warm – well, as warm as it ever got in the archipelago – summer day, the island of Berk was filled with sunning dragons and busy humans. Most of the to-ing and fro-ing was taking place at the docks. Merchants and traders had arrived to sell their wares; the Berkians traded Gronckle iron and trinkets made from shed dragon-scales for furs and other assorted goods.

This year was different from the previous, however. All of the ships were being searched and the merchants questioned, looking for signs of unwitting treachery. Needless to say, they weren’t too pleased about the intrusion. “Is all this really necessary?” Johann complained, as the twins investigated…some might say ransacked…his possessions. Granted, it may have looked like they were piled haphazardly in the first place, but there was a method to the madness! He knew where everything was, and now it was all a mess!

“We can’t be too careful” Hiccup insisted, as he and Toothless came in for a landing on the docks. “And quite frankly, Johann, given your past history…”

Johann suddenly looked nervous, wringing his hands together. “Err, past history, master Hiccup?” he repeated nervously.

Toothless-Hiccup gave him a withering _you know what we mean_ stare. Johann cleared his throat awkwardly. “Oh, uh, yes. _That_ past history.” (1)

“What past history?” asked Helena, who was sitting on the saddle in front of her father. He dismounted and lifted her down onto the deck as she questioned, “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing, sweetheart. Grown up things” Hiccup said hastily. Helena squinted suspiciously at him.

“Well if it isn’t the prettiest little girl on Berk!” Johann smirked, quickly changing the subject. Helena beamed at him. “You know, I have the perfect toy for you around here somewhere. If I can just find it…blast it, why can’t those two put things back where they came from?” he muttered as he rummaged around.

At that moment, Ruff and Tuff emerged from below deck, hauling a smaller figure between them. “Hiccup! Look what we found. A stowaway! What’s your deal, huh, trespasser?” Tuffnut demanded of the dark brown haired boy, who couldn’t have been much older than thirteen.

“I’m not a stowaway!” the boy protested, struggling. “Trader Johann, help me!”

 Johann scowled at the twins. “Would you two please let go of him? I’ll thank you not to manhandle my cabin boy. Are you alright, master Klaus?”

“I’m fine” Klaus answered, moving well away from the twins.

Hiccup wasn’t too pleased with them either. “Okay, that’s it. You guys were just supposed to search the ship for anything suspicious” he reprimanded the pair.

“Uh, and a scruffy boy hiding below deck _isn’t_ suspicious?” Ruffnut scoffed.

“I was not hiding. And I’m not scruffy!” the teenage boy protested, indignant.

“Alright!” Hiccup cut in quickly. “Ruff, Tuff, is there _anything_ on board that could harm us or the dragons?”

“Nope. No blue oleander, no grimora, no dragon root, no crates full of bones.”

“Good. I think you’ve done enough. Leave, please. _Now_.” He glared at them until they got the hint and went off to find wherever Barf &Belch had gotten to. Hiccup turned back to Klaus, who eyed him warily, and offered a conciliatory handshake. “Sorry about them. Nice to meet you, Klaus. Welcome to Berk.”

The boy looked at his outstretched hand as if it might be holding a spider, and then gingerly shook it. “Name’s Hiccup, this is Toothless” he introduced himself. Klaus’ eyes widened at the sight of the dragon; he took a step backwards in alarm, and swiped his fingers over his chest in a cross, mouthing something. “That’s…that’s a…”

“Don’t be scared” Hiccup said reassuringly, or so he hoped, “He won’t hurt you.”

“Daddy, look!” he heard Helena say happily. Hiccup looked around for her, and when he saw her his heart nearly stopped. She was waving around a small hatchet. “Just like mummy!”

“No! No, no, no, no, no” Hiccup cried, rushing over and pulling the hatchet out of her grasp, holding it out of arms reach. “Helena, this isn’t a toy. You mustn’t ever play with weapons like this” he said sternly. She pouted. “Oh, please don’t look at me like that. It’s for your own good, Helena. I don’t want you to hurt yourself. You might cut your fingers off by mistake, and take it from me, losing bits of yourself isn’t fun. Are all your fingers still there? Let me count them.”

“I wanna count ‘em!” she insisted, making two fists and holding her fingers up one at a time. “One, two, three…four…uh, five…um…”

“Six” Hiccup prompted.

“Daddy!” she squealed reproachfully. “Six…um…seven….uh…eight…nine, ten!”

“Yes! Well done, Helena. That’s my clever girl!” Hiccup cheered, hugging her.

Behind him, he heard Johann clear his throat. “And a clever girl like you deserves a nice toy. Tada!” He held out a polished wooden stick, with a Spike-Tail’s head carved at one end, and a pair of stiff cloth wings painted blue with yellow splotches halfway down. “It’s called a hobby horse – uh, dragon, rather. You put your leg over it and pretend you’re riding your very own Nadder” he explained, before adding “They usually have horses heads on them. You should have seen the look on the woodcarvers face when I asked for a dragon!”  (2)

“I can imagine. Look, Helena, it looks like a Spike-Tail! That’s a much better way to be like mummy” Hiccup said encouragingly. “What do you say to Johann?”

“Thank you” she said dutifully, taking the toy and trotting over to show it off to Toothless. He sniffed at it politely and nuzzled her, licking her cheek and making her giggle. Klaus watched with an open mouth, amazed to see the little girl petting the dragon as if he were a dog.

Hiccup smiled, then turned back to Johann. “Thanks for that. But listen, maybe next time you could make sure that there aren’t weapons in reach of children?” he suggested with a pointed stare.

“Oh! I am so, so sorry Hiccup. Klaus, I thought I told you to put those away?” Johann scolded his cabin boy – since when did he have a cabin boy? – with a disapproving frown.

Klaus wasn’t listening though. He stared at Hiccup and exclaimed “It’s you! You’re Hiccup Haddock, the Dragon Whisperer!”

“Ah. I’m guessing Johann told you about me. Good things, I hope?”

The boy shrugged. “Unbelievable things. I least I thought they were, but…” he trailed off and eyed Toothless, before finishing, “now I’m not so sure.”

“I am sorry about the hatchet being in Helena’s reach. I assure you, it won’t happen again” Johann insisted. “I mean, I didn’t think she’d go near it…” 

“She _is_ Astrid’s daughter, too.”

“Speaking of Chief Astrid, is she well? I don’t suppose she might drop by?”

“Astrid’s fine, thanks for asking. She might come and say hello before she leaves; she’s going to the Shivering Shores for the treaty signing” said Hiccup.

Klaus gave them both strange looks. “Your village leader is a woman?” he asked with a dubious frown. “Women can’t lead” he protested.

“Says who?”

“Says God. Father Oliver says it’s in the Bible.”

Before Hiccup could protest, he realised there were more people trying to get on board Johann’s ship to trade. “Well, anyway, we’ll get out of your way. Nice seeing you again, Johann. Come on, Helena.”

* * *

Helena quickly got the hang of her new toy, and went ‘flying’ up and down the docks, shouting “Whee! Faster!” Everyone stepped aside as the rambunctious little five year old barrelled past them. Toothless and Hiccup simply took to the air and cornered her at the bottom of the slope. She was barely even out of breath; wind and sky, she had a lot of energy.

She beamed happily at them, standing astride her ‘Spike-Tail’. “You like your new toy, then?” Hiccup asked with a grin of his own.

“Yes!”

They both looked up at the sound of wingbeats, and Helena’s little face lit up. “Mummy! Mummy, look!” she squealed, running over and jumping up down, the Spike-Tail head on a stick bouncing with her. It looked funny, and Hiccup had to bite back a laugh as he walked up behind her.

Stormfly and Selena landed; Astrid dismounted, and then Ebony jumped down from Selena’s back. The hatchling was a year old, and the size of a small dog; she could already walk and run on her own, and small fangs were starting to bud through her gums. She took one look at Helena’s toy and whined fearfully, instinctively hunching down and snarling.

“Bunny?” Helena asked worriedly, pouting. “What’s wrong?”

Her parents quickly realised what the problem was. “I think your toy upset her a bit” Hiccup explained. “I think she thinks that, uh, it’s a real…” he trailed off, not sure if he should say ‘a real dragon’s head on a stick’. Helena filled in the gap herself and giggled. “Silly Bunny! It’s not _real_ , it’s a toy! See?”

Stormfly, who had been tipping her head to the side to get a better look at the hobby dragon, squawked indignantly. *Is that supposed to be _me_?*

“Where did you get that from, darling?” inquired Astrid.

“I got it from Mister Johann” Helena told her. Ebony’s curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she was now sniffing the toy. Satisfied that it was just an oddly shaped bit of wood, she opened her jaws and tried to bite the stick. “No! No chewing” Helena scolded, pulling it away.

Ebony whined. “Here, Bunny, chew on this” Hiccup offered, picking up a nearby stick. The little hatchling’s ear-flaps perked up, and she crooned _grateful_ , taking the stick and settling down to gnaw on it happily.

Astrid turned to her husband and asked, “What did you give Johann for it?”

His eyes briefly widened and then shut as he mentally berated himself. “Oh! I forgot. That’s my bad. I’ll make it up to him. But err, he asked if you were gonna say hello – or goodbye, I suppose - before you left.”

“I will; I came down to buy an offering – I mean, gift for the Chief of the Shivering Shores” Astrid explained.

Helena suddenly giggled, grinned mischievously and asked, “What’s his name?”

“You know his name.”

“What’s his naaaame?”

Astrid sighed. “Old Bogey” she replied. Helena shrieked with laughter.

* * *

The chief and her husband made their way to Johann’s ship, daughter and dragons tagging along behind. Johann was pleased to see Astrid; when they got there, he was engaged in an animated conversation with Skulder. “Ah, Chief Astrid! The most beautiful chieftain in the archipelago. I assume you’re here to peruse my wares in search of a peace offering for our old friend Chief Baugi? I have a very nice collection of hatchets” Johann rambled.

“Thank you, Johann, but I think we’ve given that man enough weapons as it is. I’ll just have a look around” said Astrid, jumping down onto the deck.

“Of course, be my guest. And shame on you, Hiccup, for not telling me Skulder was here!” Johann mock-scolded, clapping his fellow traveller on the shoulder.

“Sorry. And uh, I didn’t realise I’d forgotten to pay you for Helena’s toy…”

Johann waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, don’t worry about that. Consider it an, erm, early birthday present. Since I won’t be here on the day in question.”

“Oh. Wow, thanks Johann. That’s really generous of you.”

“Quite! Uh, just to be clear, it’s only Helena’s gift that’s free” Johann added.

“Of course.”

Skulder gave a sigh and remarked, “I wish I had something to trade…well, I do, but I just can’t bring myself to give them away. Oh, but don’t mind this old man’s nostalgia. I don’t really need anything, anyway.”

Hiccup suggested, “You could always trade one of my dad’s wooden carvings. He’s got loads of them. Mom says he’s all but filled their bedroom with the things. He’s always liked whittling, but ever since he retired he’s been…kind of obsessive about it. But don’t tell him I said that.”

“Babe, you are the last person who should be complaining about someone obsessing over a hobby” Astrid reminded him as she came back ashore, a bottle of wine in her hand. “Let your dad have his fun. Johann? What will you take for this?” she asked, brandishing the bottle of wine.

“Ah, now that is one of the finest of wines! Why, there’s a fascinating story behind that bottle; it all started on the shores of Normandy in a quaint little fishing village called…” And on he went, oblivious to the fact that nobody was really listening. Astrid tuned him out and went over to Stormfly, rummaging through her saddlebags and pulled something out.

“How about this?” she suggested, holding out a necklace of turquoise and amethyst scales and small fangs. “I made it myself; Thunder, Rain and Lightning were shedding” she said by way of explanation.

“That will be perfect, Chief” Johann nodded, taking the necklace from her. “Oh, but since we’re trading anyway – Klaus? Can you fetch the flask of pure squid ink for master Hiccup, please?”

“Aye, sir!” The boy scurried off, and soon returned with a bone flask. Hiccup took it from him and dropped four gold coins into his hand. Klaus looked at them in amazement, wondering what the man had done to be so wealthy.

“That better not be from our reserves” Astrid said warningly, seeing how much he was paying with.

Hiccup shook his head and replied, “No, it’s from my share of Eret’s last haul. I’m glad he’s going to be coming up soon, I’m running low.”

“Alright. I’d better get going, I’m gonna be late. D’you think you can keep Berk in one piece until I get back?”

“Well, I can promise to try.”

“It’s only four days, I’m sure you’ll live. Helena? Mummy has to go now, darling” said Astrid, crouching down to hug her daughter, who pouted.

“I wanna come!”

“Sorry, sweetheart. You’d just be bored.” Astrid hugged her tightly, peppering her face with kisses. “I love you soooo much! And I love _you…_ ”

She straightened up and pulled Hiccup into a kiss. Helena covered her eyes and stuck her tongue out. When they broke apart, Astrid winked at her husband, and then swung herself into the saddle. “I miss you guys already. See you in four days! Let’s go, Stormfly” she urged. Stormfly rattled her spikes eagerly and took to the air, wheeling about and heading due east.

“Where’s Astrid going?” a passing villager demanded of Hiccup.

“To the Shivering Shores…y’know, for the treaty signing? It’s sort of an annual thing…” Hiccup would never understand how Berkians could recall family feuds from before he was even born, but not remember things that happened every year. Or even every week; Gobber, for instance, had a habit of ‘forgetting’ about Laugurdagur – or rather, what happened on Laugurdagur. (3)

“Does that mean you’re acting Chief?”

“Err...hey, Klaus! How’d you like a personal tour of Berk?”

The teen hesitated. “Um, I don’t think…I’m very busy helping Trader Johann…”

“Nonsense!” the ageing trader exclaimed with oblivious cheer, “I can manage, master Klaus. You should go and enjoy yourself!”

“B-but the dragons…”

“They won’t bother you, especially if Toothless and I are there” Hiccup encouraged him. “It won’t even take long. This isn’t really a big island.”

/

Klaus only agreed to the tour to be polite. He stuck close to Hiccup’s side, so the man was between him and that black dragon that followed him around. He held tight to the small cross, just two smooth wooden sticks, in his pocket, thinking of prayers to ward away the devils that had made their home here in this strange, unnerving, pagan Northern Island.

He was soothed by the thought that he, at least, was a good God-fearing Christian, and that the Lord Almighty would surely judge this island of infidels and sinners who fraternised with dragons. All his young life, Klaus had been told that dragons were dangerous, creatures of the devil sent to plague mankind with a taste of the fires of Hell, who trespassed in God’s domain.

Yet even Klaus could see that the dragons here were…surprisingly tame. They seemed to respect Hiccup and his Night Demon, bowing to them and moving aside as they approached. Klaus remembered Trader Johann telling him that Hiccup Haddock, the infamous ‘Dragon Whisperer’, practically had dragons eating out of his palm. In fact, Klaus saw him do just that with a Flaming Wyrm, even though the dragon could have easily bitten off his hand. (4)

Klaus didn’t know if that should make him more wary of the man or less. Hiccup was far too pleasant for someone who had such an unnatural affinity for dragons, demons on Earth that they were. He warned away the dragons that came too close with firm but gentle words, reassuring Klaus that he was safe and that they were only curious about him.

“There’s a lot more to dragons than meets the eye” he remarked at one point. “Believe it or not, they can even understand human speech. They’re telepathic. Isn’t that right, bud?” he asked the Night Demon. The creature nodded its head, and all of Klaus’ protests that _Thou shalt not bear false witness_ died on his tongue, he was so surprised. Had the dragon really just – surely not!

“So, Klaus. How did you end up being Johann’s cabin boy? He’s never had one before” Hiccup inquired. They were in the armoury, away from the hubbub of the village streets. He’d introduced Klaus to Gobber; the boy had looked a little unnerved by the large blacksmith, not helped by the fact that Gobber had a saw attached to his stump. Gobber had gone back to working at the other side of the forge, but Hiccup heard him dismissively mutter “ _Mainlander_ ” as he went.

Klaus perked up. “He came to our village and was asking for a cabin boy to help him, cause he’s getting old, and I volunteered” he explained. “I had to. I’m the oldest, and my dad’s dead and my mum, she’s trying to look after my brother and sister. I was just another mouth to feed. When we go back there again, I’m gonna give everything I’ve earned to her” he said dutifully.

Hiccup smiled. “That’s good of you. Family is important” he nodded, before gently saying, “You must miss them. I’m sure they miss you.”

Klaus frowned. He didn’t want pity, but it would be rude to not reply. “I suppose” he said vaguely, before inquiring, “Can I ask you something?”

Hiccup resisted the urge to say ‘you just did’. Instead he merely replied, “Sure.”

“Why…” Klaus trailed off. He wanted to ask why Hiccup let himself be corrupted by the Devil, but Trader Johann had told him that the Dragon Whisperer didn’t like it when his way with dragons was questioned, and Klaus didn’t want to anger him. So instead he asked, “Why is your…tribe leader a woman? Is it only because she’s the daughter of your former Chief?”

“Ah, no. That would be yours truly. Err, son, that is, obviously.” 

This was surprising. “But then, why aren’t _you_ Chief?” Klaus demanded.

“Well, I was going to be, but there was a change of plans. Now, Astrid leads our people, whist Toothless and I lead our dragons. The arrangement has worked out very well so far.” Hiccup paused, and then asked, “Do you really think women can’t be leaders? Just because a book said so?”

Klaus frowned. “You know about the Bible? And it isn’t just a book, it’s the Holy Word” he insisted.

“You’re a Christian, right? Sorry, I don’t mean to…I only know a bit about your religion, stuff I picked up from Johann and other travellers I know.” (5)

“Yes, I am, and Father Oliver - he’s our priest – he says that the bible says women aren’t supposed to lead men, they lead children and the home” Klaus recited dutifully. A sudden urge came over him. “It’s not too late, you know. It’s never too late to repent. God will forgive you, if you just confess your sins and accept his son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. If you do that, you’ll be rewarded. God will welcome you into heaven” he said earnestly.

At first Hiccup looked confused, then sort of upset. Now his expression was guarded. “What, err, what does the Bible say about dragons?” he asked casually. Klaus hesitated, looking nervous. “I won’t be mad. I’ve probably heard worse. Just tell me” he prompted.

“…Dragons are demons” Klaus answered at last, keeping his voice down. “In the beginning, when God made the world, he made Adam from dust and Eve from his rib, and they were living in paradise, but then Satan, the Devil, he took on the form of a dragon to sneak into the Garden of Eden and tempt Eve, and corrupt her, so she and Adam would sin and be banished. Then God sent Satan to Hell, but Satan used the last of his powers to create dragons to wreak havoc on the Earth, and breathe the fires of Hell. (6)

“All mankind is tainted with that original sin, but it’s okay, because God sent his son to sacrifice himself for all our sins. All you have to do is believe in him, and renounce all…this” Klaus declared, gesturing around at the village and the dragons there. Then he remembered who he was talking to and cringed, but Hiccup didn’t look angry. He just looked sad.

“And if I don’t?” he asked.

“Then…you’ll be sent to Hell. To be tormented forever. And I – I don’t want that. You’re nice, even if the Devil _has_ corrupted you. It’s not too late. There’s still time!” Klaus insisted desperately.

Hiccup was still looking at him with that same sad expression. “So, let me get this right – if I believe in your God, and stop loving dragons, I’ll go to heaven, to paradise after I die…but dragons can’t go to heaven, I’m guessing?”

All these questions were catching Klaus off guard. Nobody ever asked things like this back home. “W-well, I – I don’t think so. They’re creatures of the Devil. They…they go to Hell. They have to.”

Hiccup looked at the Night Demon he called ‘Toothless’, and rested a hand on the dragon’s snout. It crooned at him. He sighed and turned back to Klaus, who looked confused and hopeful and scared. “I know you won’t believe this, but Toothless is my soulmate. I’d rather suffer forever _with_ him than be in paradise without him” he declared solemnly.

Klaus’ mind was reeling, but before he could protest or question or say anything, a Flaming Wyrm with a bald, long moustached man in the saddle landed outside the armoury. “Hiccup! There you are, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Sven exclaimed in relief. “You’ve gotta help! Some of the younger riders tried ta take me sheep for a dragon race practice run, and they went and got me prize black sheep stuck down an old well.”

“I’ll be right there, Sven” Hiccup assured him, swinging into the saddle. “Sorry, Klaus. Duty calls. But err, good talk. It was really...interesting.” Then both he and Sven were flying away on their dragons. Klaus resolved then and there to pray for Hiccup…and as an afterthought, the rest of Berk…to see the light and be saved, before it was too late.

/

Sven was only the first of many Vikings expecting Hiccup to deal with a myriad of problems that had cropped up during his talk with Klaus. Naturally, a lot of them could be solved with a bit of teamwork, or ingenuity, or even just common sense. Toothless had remarked ages ago that it was a bit odd to call it ‘common’ sense when it was, apparently, not really all that common.

The villagers of Berk had gotten out of the habit of figuring out their own problems, because first his father and now his wife, perfectionists that they were, had gotten their people into the mindset of ‘the chief will sort it’. They said it kept them busy; Hiccup refrained from pointing out that Stoick was much happier nowadays, when he could spend all his time with Valka (when she wasn’t spending time with the dragons. Even after seven years, she was still a bit more comfortable with them than with human people).

At some point, Hiccup went to find Klaus again. He came across him and Johann  in the Great Hall chatting to – or in Johann’s case, talking at – Fredrick and Agatha, of all people. “Ah, master Hiccup! How good of you to join us. I was just regaling your charming in-laws with the tale of the time I nearly fell afoul of Varangians in the fabled city of Mythras. I had to do a lot of fast talking to keep my head from ending up on a pike!” Johann laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s great Johann. Oh, Fredrick, err, Gobber was wanting to see you. Something about your sword…” It was a bald faced lie, but fortunately the Hoffersons caught on, and gave him grateful looks as they departed. Hiccup got straight to the point. “Klaus? Can I talk to you in private for a minute?”

The boy stood up and followed him to a quiet corner of the Hall. “Um, so listen, I’ve been thinking about what you said, about the dragons, and err…”

“And you’re going to repent?” Klaus asked hopefully.

Hiccup winced. “Not…not really, no” he admitted, and the boy’s face fell. “I mean, I can’t really repent if I don’t feel like I’ve done anything wrong. I just…” Hiccup sucked in a breath and decided to just come out and say it. “I think you ought to stay on Berk for a few days. Just until Astrid comes back. Just to give you a chance to see that dragons are more than you’ve been told they are. I think it’ll be good for you, y’know, broaden your horizons.”

Klaus looked surprised. “I, uh…what about Trader Johann? He’ll be leaving once he’s restocked his ship. If I don’t go with him, I’d be stuck here.” He looked distressed at the mere thought.

“I figured he could go to the other tribes nearby and come back for you. Besides, our nearest neighbours have made peace with the dragons as well” Hiccup revealed. “You…you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I just thought I’d make the offer. If you do stay, and you still think dragons are demons afterwards, that’s up to you” he shrugged.

Klaus looked a bit thoughtful. The idea of spending more time on this peculiar, sort of frightening island didn’t seem appealing at first…but then, one of the reasons he had gone with Johann was to see new places, to get away from the drudgery of life in his little fishing village. Maybe…maybe if he stayed, he could spread the good news, help bring these heathens towards the light. Father Oliver always said that infidels were just stray sheep lost from the flock.

“I think…maybe you’re right” he said at last. “It’s only for a few days, right? And if I stay to learn about your beliefs, then maybe I can teach you about mine?”

“Sure! See, it’s a win, win. I’m glad you’re willing to try this, Klaus” Hiccup smiled broadly. “A lot of people wouldn’t be so open-minded.”

* * *

Later that night, when everyone had gone to bed, Toothless took the opportunity to ask something he’d been wondering about almost all day.

*Hiccup?*

*Yeah, bud?*

*What is a…* He tried to remember what the word sounded like. *...What is a Christian?* he asked.

*Someone who believes in Christianity.*

*What is ‘Christianity’?*

*A religion from the mainland.*

*What is a religion?*

*Why are you asking so many questions?* Selena teased him.

Hiccup chuckled. *Not everyone believes in the same gods we do* he explained. *Christians like Klaus believe in a single God, who apparently has a son called Jesus Christ. Get it? Christ, Christianity. Of course, there’s probably more to it than that.*

*And he believes that dragons are evil demons who wreak havoc, and if you don’t repent – whatever that means – and believe what he does, you’ll go to Hell after you die* Toothless complained. *Which reminds me – what is Hell? Is that like…what’s it called…Helheim?* he inquired.

Selena cocked her head curiously. *Helheim? What’s that?*

*It’s one of the nine realms; and from what I gathered, Hell is kind of a cross between Helheim and Muspelheim. It’s where sinners, bad people, go after they die – at least that’s what Christians believe – and it’s a realm of fire. Which is okay for me, cos I’ll just hide between your wings. You’re fireproof* he smirked at Toothless, teasing.

*But you’re not a bad person! Does Klaus really think you are, just because you like dragons and he thinks we’re evil?* Toothless demanded, snarling a bit in frustration. Hiccup reached a hand out, and the dragon pressed his snout into it, seeking comfort.

*I don’t think he thinks I’m a bad person. I think that’s why he tried to get me to convert; he’s trying to save me from eternal torment. It’s not his fault he was raised to believe that anyone who isn’t Christian is going to Hell. It’s like how back during the war, if you asked kids here on Berk how to deal with dragons, they’d just say ‘kill on sight’. It’s what they – what we – were all taught. But we changed. And the first of us to do it were my friends and I, when we were teenagers like Klaus. If there was hope for us, then there’s hope for him.*

*Is that why you wanted him to stay? Isn’t expecting people to think like you why Isak was angry?*

*Well, that’s why I asked him first. I’m not expecting him to stop being a Christian; what he believes is his own business. I just want to give him a chance to change his mind about this one thing. I mean, what harm could it do?*

*I have a feeling that isn’t why he agreed to stay.*

*Toothless, he’s just a kid. I’m sure whatever his motives are, they’re not too nefarious* Hiccup rolled his eyes. *Besides, I don’t mind _why_ he agreed. I’m just glad that he did.*

“Daddy?” Helena’s voice piped up, and he looked over to see her standing in the doorway, clutching her toy Spike-Tail – the stuffed one his mother had made for her, not her new hobby dragon. 

“Yeah, baby girl? C’mere.” He beckoned to her, and she trotted over, climbing up onto the bed with him. 

“I miss mummy” she pouted, snuggling into his side. Hiccup held her close and pressed a fond kiss to her hair.

“I know. I miss her too. But she’ll be home before you know it.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) The whole ‘traitor Johann’ debacle never happened in the HBS continuity. I may or may not write a one-shot about this, but basically, not long after getting back from Myrkr, Hiccup wondered if Johann had told him that story on purpose knowing he’d be put in danger. They confront Johann, who confesses that he’s been watched and manipulated by various enemies (Mildew, Dagur, the hunters etc.), and wanted to ask for help, but was scared of the consequences getting worse for not only himself but the Berkians as well (but mostly himself, he is kind of a coward).
> 
> (2) Hobby horses (or hobby dragon in this case) were a legit medieval toy. It’s not quite the right time period but it’s close enough.
> 
> (3) Look, I’m using real Norse words! Real life Vikings had a bath once a week – which was more often than most people in those days – on Saturday, or Laugurdagur, aka the day of washing.
> 
> (4) Night Demon? Flaming Wyrm? Well, it occurred to me that the names that the Vikings gave to various dragon breeds aren’t necessarily what people in other countries and cultures or religions would call them.
> 
> (5) This is my headcanon explanation for why Stoick calls Toothless ‘devil’ and Gobber says ‘I’m in heaven’ in that one episode – they’ve picked up bits and pieces of stuff about Christianity from various traders
> 
> (6) Even in our world, dragons are a cross-cultural mythical creature. One has to assume that in a world where our favourite fictional fire-breathers are real, they must have greatly influenced the cultures and belief systems of many civilisations. Most opinions aren’t too positive, though…


	2. Part Two

It was a dark, cold night; the moon half hidden behind swathes of grey cloud that flowed across it in the wind. White crested waves threw themselves desperately against the rough sand of a low lying beach, overshadowed by worn and rolling cliffs. The sound of the endless ebb and flow disguised the splash of oars as a small rowboat approached the shore.

The boat carried two men; one short with a bit of a paunch, the other tall with hooks for hands, both bald as peeled eggs. It was unfortunate for the latter that he had been told to row the boat. It was a bit difficult to get a good grip on the oars with hooks. “Keep going, Berthel! We’re almost there” Amos said encouragingly from the prow of the boat. The other man felt trickles of sweat running down his forehead, and other places, but he did as he was told. (1)

At last the water was shallow enough for them to get out and splash onto shore, dragging the boat with them. Once they’d pulled it right up to the cliffs, Berthel looked around at the deserted beach and scratched his head uncertainly with the edge of one of his hooks. “There’s nobody here” he said.

“O’course not! The village is on the other side o’ these here cliffs. That’s where our quarry is…or will be, tomorrow” Amos explained.

“But if the village is over there…” Berthel said slowly, pointing in what he thought was the right direction, “…How come we’re here?”

Amos rolled his eyes. “Cos we couldn’t sail up to the village, that’s why! We’re not supposed to be here, remember? Now come on, we’ve gotta get over these cliffs. It’ll be easy!”

It wasn’t. The cliff might have collapsed, but it was still steep, and rather unstable. It was also covered in very prickly gorse bushes that caught on their clothes and skin, drawing blood. Amos had taken the only lantern, leaving Berthel to struggle up the cliff in almost pitch darkness, following the little blob of yellow-orange light as best as he could. It didn’t help that he was weighed down with a heavy, ungainly sack.

The moon had emerged from behind the clouds by the time the two bounty hunters, sweating like stuck pigs, had climbed up to the top of the cliff. The wind was even stronger up there, and worse, it was blowing right towards them. They leaned into it and began to trudge towards the distant lights of the village. Their boots squelched through thick mud.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Berthel asked after a while, calling over the roar of the wind.

“What’ve I told you about asking that?” Amos demanded, scowling, though of course his lackey couldn’t see it. “Of course I’m sure! Didn’t you see how much the bounty were? With that sort o’ money, we can retire t’ the mainland and live in a manor, with serfs and servants. What makes y’think it isn’t?”

“Uh…” Berthel trailed off, trying to think. “Cos she’s a chief? And um, the bounty isn’t on her…is it? It’s on him. The Dragon Whisperer. What if he sets ‘em on us? I heard he can, uh…control ‘em. With his mind.”

Amos scoffed. “That’s jus’ a myth!”

“And he’s got a Night Fury.”

“It won’t attack unless he tells it to, and he won’t.”

“How d’you know?”

“Don’t worry about the Dragon Whisperer. He won’t do anything, not if he wants his pretty wife back in one piece. Besides, the worst he’s gonna do is lock us up. Not like he’s gonna kill us or nothing.”

“How d’you know that?” Berthel asked in bewilderment, “and how d’you know the Chief o’ Berk’s even gonna be here?”

Amos shot him a glare, annoyed by his lack of faith. “I know cos I’ve got a guy on the inside who tipped me off about this here treaty signing. He said if we hold the Dragon Whisperer’s wife hostage, he’ll have t’do anything we say. He just asked for a favour in return.”

“What’s that?”

“Never you mind. Just keep walking.”

A particularly strong gust of wind lifted the latch of the lantern Amos was carrying, and blew out the candle within. Berthel shivered. His feet were wet from the sea and the mud, and his back hurt from carrying the sack. To make matters worse, the clouds had come back, and it was starting to rain.

He sighed and did as he was told.

* * *

Johann protested, naturally, when he was told Klaus would be staying on Berk for a few more days. “I’ll miss having a strong young back around; and coming back here is going to put me so far beyond schedule, master Hiccup, can’t you reconsider?” he begged.

Hiccup hesitated. “I guess you’re right…maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

“I’m sure you’ll be okay without me, Trader Johann” Klaus told him confidently. “After all, you were trading for years without a cabin boy, weren’t you?”

“Uh…well, yes, I suppose…”

“There might be someone here on Berk who’d be willing to help you out in the meantime” Hiccup suggested, “And if it gets too much for Klaus, I’ll have our fastest ship sail out to catch up with you. I can do that, probably. I mean there have to be some perks to being acting Chief.”

Between them, Klaus and Hiccup convinced Johann to sail alone to Outcast Island, and Meathead Island, before looping back around to Berk. Hiccup asked around for volunteers to accompany him – nobody was enthusiastic at first, until Johann reluctantly agreed to pay his temporary cabin boy for his troubles. Suddenly a lot of the teenage boys on Berk were eager to earn something; they settled the matter between themselves with a race on their dragons. (2)

Hiccup was really pleased that Klaus was being so open-minded. He had no idea that the boy had agreed to stay to convert his people. Klaus knew that it would do no good to try and convince these pagans to turn away from their dealings with dragons. At first he wondered how such dangerous creatures could live so tamely amongst men (and women), but the answer soon came to him. Satan must have taken over Hiccup – perhaps through the Night Demon called Toothless, whom he’d gathered was known by the Vikings here as a ‘Swift-Wing’, but he’d also heard it called a ‘Night Fury’, which was confusing.

It never occurred to him to ask why Satan would use an earthly pawn to make dragons seem tame instead of wreak havoc. If he had thought about it, he might have reasoned that it was to lure more people into the temptation of associating with such accursed creatures. Either way, he would start by telling them of the good news, and lead them to the right path a little at a time.

Thus it was that Klaus found himself spending the night at Hiccup’s parents’ house. His father, Stoick, was gruff and imposing, like it seemed most of the Vikings here were. Klaus found him a bit intimidating at first. Then there was his mother, Valka, who fussed over him once she heard he’d left his own mama to travel with Johann. Klaus wanted to like her, but she showed the same affection towards dragons as her son, and he didn’t feel like he could fully trust her.

He did take a liking to Helena, however. She reminded him of his little sister Georgia, and he spent a rather enjoyable evening telling her all about his siblings and his life back home. Then he told her some of the stories he remembered from the Bible, all about Jesus and everything he’d done for them. He just so happened to be doing it over dinner, when Hiccup and his parents were in the room, so they could hear the good news too.

* * *

The next morning, when Klaus woke up he found the house was eerily silent. Hiccup’s parents were nowhere to be found, even when he called out. Klaus stepped out of the front door and discovered that their dragons were missing as well. This he was glad of. He’d never seen any kind of dragon like those ones; Stoick said his was a Charger called Skull Crusher, and Valka said hers was a Four-Wing called Cloud Jumper.

As he stood uncertainly in front of the house, not sure what to do, he heard a voice call, “Hello?” Looking around, Klaus saw a rotund blond Viking with a short but bushy beard, at the bottom of the small hill. Next to him was a Glutton, a big brown lumpy one whose tongue was lolling out of its mouth like a dog. When he saw Klaus was looking at him, the man went on, “You must be Klaus, right?”

Klaus nodded. “Who are you?” he asked, coming down the hill a little way and keeping one wary eye on the dragon beside the man.

“My name’s Fishlegs” the man replied. That made no sense – fish didn’t even have legs. “And _this_ is my beautiful, ever faithful Rock-Tail, Meatlug” he added, and to Klaus’ surprise he cuddled the Glutton, which slopped its tongue over his face. The boy realised that ‘Rock-Tail’ must have been the Vikings name for the Glutton dragons.

“She might be tough and fierce looking on the outside, but on the inside she’s as soft as yak butter, and as sweet as honey. Aren’t you, girl?” Fishlegs cooed at the dragon. It – she – purred at him, wagging her tail. Then she emitted an embarrassing honk – from the wrong end – and despite himself, Klaus giggled. He clapped a hand over his mouth, blushing; he was thirteen, he was too old to be sniggering like a little kid at fart noises.

Then he had to hold his breath, as the noxious stench reached him and made his eyes water. Fishlegs didn’t seem to notice it. “You’re probably wondering where everyone is” he guessed, explaining “Well, um, Valka isn’t back yet from her early morning flight with Cloud Jumper, and Stoick’s down in the village somewhere, probably grumbling about being pulled out of retirement. And err, Hiccup and Toothless are patrolling our territory.”

Klaus nodded slowly. It seemed to occur to Fishlegs that he ought to explain why he was there. “I’m the Head of the Dragon Academy…well, more like the Deputy Head, really. I’m teaching a class for the younger students this morning, they’re around your age actually, and Hiccup said I ought to invite you along – just to watch, you know?”

Klaus hesitated, but he had nothing better to do, and surely if he was going to save these pagans he should start with the ones his own age. “Lead the way” he agreed. Fishlegs and Meatlug headed for the Academy, the buildings sprawled out across the tops of high cliffs. Klaus followed them, taking care to stay upwind of the Rock-Tail.

On the way, Fishlegs asked if he had any questions. Klaus had a lot of them. “What is that strange ice encircling your island?” he inquired first. He’d never seen an iceberg, or indeed ice, like it.

“Oh, that’s Urchin’s wall. We weren’t sure about it at first but it’s made our harbour a lot bigger, and it’s a great defence against invading armadas” Fishlegs explained. He paused and then added thoughtfully, “Of course, that hasn’t happened much since Adulfr was defeated.”

Klaus didn’t know who Adulfr was or why he was defeated, and he decided he didn’t want to know. Instead he asked, “Who is Urchin?”

“He’s one of our dragons. He’s a Sea-Giant, one of the biggest dragons to ever live. They’re super rare. You probably won’t see him though, he’s really shy. Of course, if he does decide to come out, he’s kind of hard to miss.”

Klaus cast around for something else to ask. “We’re going to the Academy, you said?” he inquired.

“That’s right."

“What is an Academy?”

Fishlegs floundered a bit. “It – well, it’s a school. A dragon training school. Where we teach people how to train their dragons; and you know, take care of them and ride them and stuff. You know what a school is, don’t you?”

Klaus blushed a bit. “I’ve never been to school. Can’t read or write or nothing” he confessed with a shrug, as if it were no big deal.

Fishlegs gave him a look of pity. “It’s a shame you aren’t staying on Berk for longer; I could have taught you a bit. But hey, Trader Johann always has a book or two. Maybe you could teach yourself to read” he suggested optimistically.

* * *

At last they made it to the training ring. Fishlegs was pleased to see that his students were already there…less pleased to see that there was apparently a fight going on. Meatlug flew up and let out a ground-shaking bellow; everyone froze and looked around. Fishlegs panted a bit as he rushed to catch up with her. “Good girl, Meatlug. Now what’s got into all of you?” he demanded.

The students – six Hooligans, two Outcasts, five Meatheads, three Bog-Burglars and four Berserkers (3) – seemed to all indiscriminately be attacking each other. Well, at least it wasn’t a tribal thing. “Well?” Fishlegs repeated, hands on his hips. Magnus flicked her brunette hair out of her face (4), pointed at one of the Berserker boys and announced, “He started it! He said Berserker dragons are better than Berk dragons when it’s really the other way round.”

Or maybe it _was_ a tribal thing. Fishlegs sighed. “Guys, come on, we’ve been over this. It doesn’t matter which tribe the dragon is part of; all dragons are amazing and worthy of respect. Oh! Guys, this is Klaus. He’s spending a few days here on Berk, and he’s just going to watch our class” he explained.

Klaus found a place to sit out of the way as the other students gathered around Fishlegs, who stood up on some crates. “Alright, first let’s do a recap. Who can tell me the names of the seven Dragon Classes?”

One of the Bog-Burglar girls raised her hand and rattled off, “Stoker, Boulder, Sharp, Tracker, Mystery, Tidal and Strike.”

“Very good, Olga! Now, what do you do if you encounter a wild dragon?”

One of the two Outcast boys raised his hand, and so did Magnus. Fishlegs gestured to the boy first, and he answered “Um, you stay still and say ‘no threat’ over and over? Oh, and uh, don’t look them in the eye.”

“Nuh-uh!” Magnus insisted, “It depends on what kind of dragon it is!”  

“You’re both right!” Fishlegs exclaimed hurriedly, before another fight could ensue. “It’s important not to startle the dragon, so you don’t move much, and speak softly. You can meet their eyes, but you have to be careful not to stare at them – like this.” He bugged his eyes out at them. A few of the younger ones sniggered. “Okay, so show me what you do if…a Spike-Tail finds you.”

The kids all backed away, leaving Magnus and the Outcast boy in the middle. His friend tossed him a spear, and Klaus’ eyes widened in alarm. “First you find their blind spot and stay in it” the twelve year old girl explained, as she and the older boy circled each other, “say ‘no threat’, and if they _do_ flick spikes at you” – here the boy raised and launched the spear, right at her, but Hildegard just dived out of the way and rolled to her feet, “It means they’re being a territorial Grumpy McGrump, so you back away slowly and then…leg it!”

“Very good, Magnus!” Fishlegs praised her, applauding. “You sure know a lot about Spike-Tails” he noted.

Magnus gave him a buck-toothed grin and declared, “They’re my favourite dragon. I’m gonna ride one when I’m older, if they pick me.”

Klaus watched, mystified, as the students showed how to deal with different kinds of dragons. They were talking about dragons he had never heard of before, as Fishlegs held up what must have been pictures of them. At first he thought they were learning how to get away from the dangerous creatures, to avoid being killed. The idea of them learning how to attack and fight dragons never crossed his mind.

He couldn’t believe his ears when he heard them talk eagerly of taming the wild, vicious beasts, befriending and training them. From what he gathered, not all of these children were from Berk; some had come here from other tribes. Klaus remembered Hiccup saying that those other tribes were fraternising with dragons as well. Did these children come here to be corrupted into heresy too?

They talked of dragons as if the creatures were only misunderstood, as if they had minds and feelings of their own. It made no sense. The Devil had created all dragons at the Fall of Man, with vicious fangs and cruel claws, breathing fires of destruction to mirror the horrors of Hell on Earth. Klaus remembered sitting in service, listening to Father Oliver preach the Word of God. What did the Bible say about dragons?

_“…And the dragon was thrown out, the serpent of old who was the devil and Satan, who deceived Eve…and with his powers of evil, he forged from the flames creatures of fangs and fire, and struck menace into their hearts…”_

_“…And so the Lord our God commands us to cast out these demons, offspring of Satan, for they are evil made manifest, and a man called ‘dragon’ should feel naught but fury and shame…”_

_“…Call no man coward who flees from Satan’s brood and thus from evil…yet I say unto you, call any man a warrior who spills the blood of a dragon, for he hath vanquished evil…”_

_“…For if so any man born now or in ten, a hundred, a thousand more years, should look upon dragonkind and command them, that man would be most dangerous, for he would command an army of powerful enemies…”_

Klaus struggled to recall other teachings…not so many of the services had been about dragons, after all. Doubts began to whisper in the back of his mind, _maybe…maybe…maybe…_ Klaus shuddered and shook them away. He would not be swayed by Satan’s temptations. That was one lesson he did remember clearly: “ _Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”_ (5)

The Bible was the inspired Word of God, so if the Bible said that dragons were dangerous and had to be rejected, then that was so. If the dragons here were so tame that children could leap astride them and ride them like horses, then that was down to the Dragon Whisperer’s strange magic with the creatures. Klaus breathed easier, reassured by his faithful piety.

* * *

Fishlegs gave the children a break, and they stood around talking. It wasn’t long before they turned to Klaus. “You came with Trader Johann, right?” asked one of the kids from Berk.

Klaus nodded. Then a girl from the Berserker tribe asked “Why aren’t you with him now? I never saw his ship down at the docks this morning.”

This was his chance! “He’s coming back for me” Klaus replied, “But I wanted to stay here and spread the good word of Jesus Christ

“The what of who?”

“His Holiness Jesus Christ is the son of God” Klaus explained, his eyes lighting up. Before he could tell them about Jesus’ noble sacrifice to save all of mankind from their sins, somebody demanded to know, “Which god? You mean Odin?”

“He can’t mean Odin” one boy said dismissively, “Everyone knows that Odin’s sons are Thor, Baldur, Vidarr and Váli.”

“Don’t forget Loki.”

“Loki isn’t _really_ Odin’s son; he just took him in.”

Klaus shook his head emphatically. “No, no, you don’t understand. There’s only One True God, and Jesus Christ is his only son. He so loved the world that he sacrificed himself on the cross to save us all from our sins. If we believe in him and worship him as our saviour, he will guide us through this life and reward us with eternal paradise in the afterlife” he explained.

He looked around with a hopeful smile, expecting to see looks of wonder or at least of interest. Instead he found only incredulous stares. “Who told you that?” one of the hulking Outcast boys asked scornfully.

“My…my mother and father, and our priest. They would not lie to me” Klaus insisted defensively. “It’s okay, you did not know, but now you do! Just have faith, and the Lord will reveal himself to you, in your heart” he exulted, clasping his hands in prayer over his chest, a beatific smile on his face. “I know it’s true, I feel it, and you will too. You just need to have faith” he implored them.

A few of the kids looked thoughtful, but most of them were almost sneering. “Alright. I believe in you, Jesus, or whatever your name is. Please reveal yourself to me!” Olga mock-pleaded, throwing her hands up at the sky as if in rapture. A moment later she dropped them to her hips and cocked her head, going “Hmm, huh…d’you guys see any Jesus guys? Cos I sure don’t. Jesus! Come out, come out wherever you are!”

They all sniggered, and Klaus’ face went red. “Th-that’s not how it works” he protested, “Jesus reigns with his father in heaven. You don’t _see_ him, you _feel_ him, inside you, in your soul. And you have to _really_ believe! You can’t just pretend to believe in him, that…that’s cheating! And he’s all-knowing, so he can’t be lied to.”

“What’s so special about your god?” someone else demanded, “what’s wrong with ours? We’ve worshipped them for centuries and we’re not about to stop now!” he declared aggressively.

Magnus spoke up then, saying “Guys, c’mon, knock it off. Quit giving him a hard time, it’s not his fault he doesn’t know about our gods.”

“Shut up, _Hildegard_ ” the Outcast boy who had thrown a spear at her sneered, “You don’t know anything. You’re just an ugly little girl who looks like an ugly little boy.”

“Ugly or not, I don’t need to be a boy to punch you in the face!”

“Stop!” Klaus cried out, “There’s no need to fight” he tried to tell them, but his protests went ignored. The other boy brushed him aside and glared down at Magnus, who drew herself up and looked him fearlessly in the eye. “You gonna fight me, little girl?” he sneered, “or are ya”-

His words were cut off abruptly as Magnus gave him a swift uppercut to the chin, jerking his head back. She was just about to leap on him and give him a proper thrashing, but then she heard a growl. They all turned to see Fishlegs, with his dragon snarling at his side, looking very disappointed in them. “What do you all think you’re doing?” he demanded.

Immediately, Magnus and the Outcast boy pointed at each other and cried “He/She started it!”

“She punched me!”

“He was asking for it!”

“Was not!”

“Were too!”

“Wait!” Klaus cried out in a brief moment of boldness. “It’s my fault. Hildegard…I mean, Magnus…was only trying to stand up for me.”

Fishlegs frowned. “Why? Have you been bullying him?” he asked sharply.

“He keeps trying to make us believe in his stupid ‘Jesus’ god. There’s nothing wrong with the ones we have!”

“Shame on you; all of you! You can’t pick on someone just because they don’t believe what you do. Let Klaus believe in his god, and we’ll believe in our gods, and we’ll all agree to disagree, okay?” Fishlegs said, as sternly as he could.

There was awkward agreement and mumbled apologies from the kids. After class had ended, Klaus sidled up to Magnus and said shyly, “Um, thank you. For standing up for me.”

“You’re welcome. I know what it’s like to get picked on” she replied.

“…I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why are you called ‘Magnus’? Isn’t that a…you know, a…”

“Boy’s name?” she asked, grinning. “My real name is ‘Hildegard’, but when I was a baby I got named ‘Magnus’ by mistake…long story” she added, seeing his questioning look. She brushed that fringe of brown hair out of her eyes and explained, “Like I said, I got bullied a lot when I was little, but then Chief Astrid showed me how to beat ‘em up, and I don’t get bullied much anymore. But I kept calling myself Magnus because I kinda feel more like a boy than a girl, and I look more like a boy than a girl, so I picked a boy name.”

“I don’t think you look like a boy” Klaus blurted.

“But I look ugly, right? It’s okay, I’m used to it” she shrugged. Klaus looked her over. She had dark bushy eyebrows and her nose was almost too big and her two front teeth were a bit wonky…but she had a nice smile, even if it was kind of crooked, and she’d stood up for him, and she was kind of funny and rather nice... “I don’t think you’re ugly” he told her, “I…I like your smile” he said, and she beamed at him.

“Chief Astrid said that. She is so cool…” Magnus looked around and then murmured conspiratorially, “don’t tell him, but sometimes I think she’s cooler than Hiccup.” Klaus smiled and made a ‘my lips are sealed’ gesture. “She’s why I like Spike-Tails so much; they have big noses and sticky-out teeth like me, but they have really pretty colours and they’re graceful...I really hope a Spike-Tail chooses me when I come of age. What’s your favourite dragon, Klaus?” she asked him innocently.

He hesitated. What did he say? “I, um…I don’t have one. A favourite, I mean. I…I don’t really like dragons as much as you guys do” he admitted.

“Are you scared of them? You don’t have to be – c’mon, I’ll show you!” She grabbed his hand and they ran from the arena across the bridge to Berk and then through into the woods. They walked around until they stumbled across a Rock-Tail. “Shh…Watch my back” Magnus told Klaus, before she stepped out from behind the bush. The dark pink Rock-Tail looked up as she approached, nice and slowly, murmuring “No threat.” She crouched down and picked up a stone, holding it out to the stocky dragon.  He was already munching on a pile of stones, but one more wouldn’t hurt…

Rubel was a good dragon, obedient to his Alphas and the rules of the nest. One of those rules was ‘don’t hurt the humans, especially the fledglings’. He could smell another human fledgling lurking nearby, but it smelled like _scared_ and not like _danger,_ so he ignored that one in favour of shambling up to the one with the tasty rock and licking it out of her hand.

Magnus giggled and petted the Rock-Tail’s snout. Then she looked back over her shoulder and beckoned to Klaus. “See? He’s friendly! Come on out” she encouraged. Warily, Klaus emerged from his hiding place. He didn’t come near the dragon though. “What are you waiting for? Come pet him, he’s nice!”

Klaus shook his head. “You don’t understand. I can’t…I’m not allowed to like dragons. That’s not what a good Christian does” he protested, struggling to explain. She just looked at him like he was crazy – like the kids in the arena had looked at him. “Just listen. Humans, we’re made in the image of God, but dragons are made in the image of the Devil. He’s evil, he’s the enemy of God. If you make friends with a dragon, it…it’s like making friends with Satan!”

Magnus stared at him in disbelief. Behind her, Rubel gurgled in confusion. Who or what was a ‘Satan’? Or a ‘Devil’, for that matter?

“What? You…you think having dragons for friends is _evil_?!” Magnus demanded indignantly, glaring at him.

Klaus spluttered helplessly. “N-no, I mean, yes, but – I don’t mean it like that! I don’t think _you’re_ evil, I just think they are!” A moment later he realised what he’d just said, and his eyes widened. Magnus looked disgusted. “Wait! That’s not what I meant!”

“You really think they’re evil? You _did_ listen to our lesson, didn’t you? And see how all the humans and dragons get along here on Berk?” Magnus asked incredulously.

“I know the dragons _here_ aren’t evil, but that’s because Hiccup makes them behave! He’s the Dragon Whisperer, and Trader Johann said he controls them.”

Magnus scoffed. “Everyone knows you can’t believe a word Johann says. Klaus, you’re being stupid! Just pet the dragon and you’ll see you’re wrong” she insisted, marching forwards and reaching out to grab his wrist and drag him closer to the Rock-Tail. Klaus yanked his arm away. Rubel waddled forwards, gurgling in a friendly sort of way, trying to help.

Klaus pulled his cross from his pocket and held it up in front of him. “Stay away from me!” he screamed, at the dragon and at Magnus. “Stay back, winged spawn of Satan!”

Rubel wasn’t the brightest dragon, even for a Rock-Tail, but even he could tell that was meant to be an insult. He growled a bit, trying to tell the human fledgling not to be so rude. It backfired. Klaus thought the dragon was about to attack him; forgetting everything he’d heard that day about how to deal with aggressive dragons, he turned and ran away as fast as he could.

“Good riddance!” Magnus shouted after him, fuming. And to think she thought he was nice! She turned to the Rock-Tail, who was whining guiltily. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault. You’re a good dragon” she told him. He purred happily and licked her. She giggled, wiped it off and asked, “Can you take me to Hiccup and Toothless?” Rubel wriggled all over, stubby tail wagging, and crouched down so she could climb onto his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Look who’s back! We never did find out what became of these two. And why bother creating whole new personalities when I can just reuse side characters from the show? Ha, ha, ha I’m such a hack.
> 
> (2) Johann wasn’t entirely thrilled by the idea that his temporary cabin boy would be accompanied by their dragon, but the dragon followed his rider anyway, they just didn’t land on the boat.
> 
> (3) Kids from several tribes aged between twelve to seventeen come to Berk every year for the spring and summer to either learn about dragons (12-14) or learn to ride them, as well as perform rescue manoeuvres, battle tactics etc. – (15-17).
> 
> (4) Yep, as in the baby girl Gobber named ‘Magnus’ even though her parents had already decided on ‘Hildegard’. She was bullied for her looks as a child, but after getting some fighting lessons from Astrid, she’s turning out to be quite the confident tomboy.
> 
> (5) Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV, if you were wondering. The other quotes are obviously made up, but I hope they sound realistic.


	3. Part Three

Hiccup was in the forge, talking to Snotlout and Gobber, when Magnus flew in crying his name at the top of her lungs. “Hiccup! Hiccup, Hiccup, Hiccup!”

“Whoa, whoa!” he exclaimed, whirling around as Rubel dropped down in front of the armoury. “Magnus? What are you...? Hey, slow down! Where’s the fire?”

“No fire” she shook her head, and scowled. “Klaus is being a jerk!”

“Klaus? Wait, I don’t – I don’t understand, what happened? Where is Klaus?”

“In the forest, he ran away” Magnus shrugged.

“And you just left him there? Oh, for – come on!” He pulled her onto Toothless’ saddle with him, and they took to the air.

 *Come on, Rubel!*

*Coming, Alpha-Toothless!*

“Where did you last see Klaus?” Hiccup asked her.

“In the woods.”

“Yeah, I know, but _where_?”

“Um…over there. I think” she said vaguely, pointing. Hiccup sighed.

*Rubel, lead us back to where you last saw the human boy Klaus heading* Toothless instructed the Rock-Tail doggedly buzzing alongside them.

*It was this way!* Rubel veered off and Toothless banked to follow him. Magnus squealed excitedly and held on tighter. She couldn’t wait until she was old enough to ride a dragon of her own! On the way, Toothless called out to the dragons they passed, asking if they’d seen an unfamiliar brown haired human boy. “So, d’you wanna tell me what’s going on?” Hiccup inquired once they’d levelled off. “What were you and Klaus doing in the woods in the first…Wait a minute. Having boy troubles, are we?”

Magnus pulled a face. “No!” she squealed, “Eww! Why would you say that?”

“Well, Klaus is about your age, and you were in the middle of the forest with him, alone…” Hiccup tailed off teasingly.

“Stop it!” Magnus yelped, mortified.

“Heh, sorry. I need the practice – Helena’s going to be a teenager in less than a decade” he shrugged. _Oh gods, that’s a terrifying thought._

“I can’t talk about that stuff! Not with _you_. When is Chief Astrid coming back?” she asked hopefully.

“In three days. Hey, does this mean you only came to me because Astrid isn’t here?” Hiccup asked her, trying not to sound too miffed.

“….Maybe?”

“Okay…so what did happen with Klaus?”

“He said he was scared of dragons, so I tried to show him they’re not scary, but when I tried to get him to pet _him_ ”, Magnus pointed at Rubel, “He said dragons were made by a devil, and we’re bad people for making friends with them! And he called that Rock-Tail a…a winged spawn of Satan!”

There was a long pause. “…I see” Hiccup said at last.

“I told you he was a jerk” Magnus huffed, self-satisfied.

“He’s not a jerk, Magnus. He’s just scared. He’s been raised differently, with different beliefs, from us. And you can’t _force_ someone to like dragons.”

“But I thought that was what you wanted!”

“Well, it – it is, but I don’t want to force it on people. I want people to make peace with dragons because they want to, not because I made them. You wouldn’t like to be forced to make friends with someone, would you? Or to go near something that scared you?” Hiccup asked pointedly.

Another, even more awkward pause. “…No” Magnus admitted at last. “But he was being rude!” she protested stubbornly.

“Maybe, but people lash out when they’re scared. I mean, did you or Rubel did anything to startle him?”

“Um…the Rock-Tail is Rubel, right? Uh, he sorta growled at Klaus a bit. That’s why he ran away” Magnus explained.

Nearby, Rubel gave an embarrassed grunt. *I didn’t _mean_ to scare the human boy, Alphas* he gurgled apologetically. *I was just trying to tell him off a little bit. Please don’t be mad.*

*We’re not mad at you* Toothless assured him, *but we need to find Klaus soon. We can’t have someone who’s scared of dragons getting lost on an island full of them.*

* * *

In retrospect, running away had been a rather stupid idea. Klaus hadn’t really paid attention to where they were going, assuming that Magnus would know the way back to the village. He’d tried to run back the way he came, but he kept running into the paths of dragons. None of them attacked him, but he was too frightened to notice, and fled at the mere sight of scales.

The result was that he was now hopelessly lost, in the middle of a dragon infested forest. Now Klaus was hiding amongst some rocks, hunched up and feeling miserable. _Stupid forest_ he thought bitterly, _Stupid dragons. Stupid heathen northerners. Stupid Magnus – no, Hildegard. What kind of a girl gives themselves a boys name? That’s just weird and wrong._

The worst part was that she probably thought he was weird and wrong for not liking dragons. Well of course he didn’t like them – dragons were awful! They were _huge_ , and…and ugly, and they smelled, and they breathed fire which did nothing but destroy…Klaus ignored the doubts whispering in his head, that not _all_ of the dragons looked like hideous monsters, or the dragons here didn’t seem like mindless beasts, or even that the Rock- the Glutton had, at first, almost looked rather…cute.

 _Staying here was a mistake_ he thought miserably. Berk was too frightening, too peculiar, too strange. _Going with Trader Johann was a mistake._ Klaus felt like he wasn’t cut out to evangelise like the great prophets. Men like John the Baptist, and St Paul, and of course Lord Jesus himself. As he thought of these great men, Klaus’ own resolve began to strengthen again. How could he complain? So he’d been bullied a bit and scared by a dragon. At least no one had tried to cut off his head, or crucify him.

Klaus knelt and clasped his hands together. _Please, Lord, please give me the courage to follow in your footsteps_ he prayed, _and teach these heathens the error of their ways. Please show them mercy and guide them to a better path. They…they are good people._ He swallowed hard. _They just don’t understand._

“Klaus?!” He heard someone call his name, from far away. Surprised, Klaus looked up. He scrambled out of his hiding place and looked around. “Hello?” He called out, “Is…is somebody there?!”

There was a rustle from above, and two dragons descended – the Glutton from earlier, and the Night Demon, Toothless. Hiccup and Magnus were riding on the black dragon’s back. “There you are!” Hiccup exclaimed. “Are you okay? We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Klaus shuffled his boots in the mulch, embarrassed. “I got lost” he confessed, “but I’m okay.”

“Oh, thank the moon” Hiccup sighed in relief. He and Magnus dismounted. “Now, Magnus, isn’t there something you want to say to Klaus?”

The girl sighed. “I’m really sorry I tried to make you like dragons. That was mean of me. Can we still be friends?” she asked Klaus.

He hadn’t expected an apology, but it would be rude not to accept. “Of course” he replied, “I forgive you. I know you meant well. And…I’m sorry for what I said too. You’re not bad for liking dragons.”

Magnus smiled at him. Then Hiccup asked him “Klaus, do you want to leave Berk? It’s not too late, you know. Just say the word and I’ll get you back on board Johann’s ship.” His concern and generous offer sounded so genuine that Klaus struggled to believe he had malicious intentions.

Remembering his newfound determination, Klaus squared his shoulders and answered, “Don’t worry, Hiccup. Trader Johann will be coming back for me, after all. It’s okay if I stay a few more days…just, um, in the village, not the woods” he finished with a nervous grin.

Hiccup eyed him uncertainly. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure” Klaus nodded.

“Alright…come on, you two. It’s a long way back to the village from here.”

“No it’s not” Magnus shook her head, “We have dragons, we can fly back!”

Hiccup glanced at Klaus, who had stiffened fearfully. “Actually, Magnus, I don’t think Klaus is really up for flying on dragon-back just yet” he pointed out.

She looked dismayed. “You mean we have to walk?!”

He sighed. Rubel shuffled forwards, tongue panting, and offered *I could fly her back to the village, Alpha-Hiccup.*

“Would you? Thanks” Hiccup replied, completely bewildering Klaus. “You can ride Rubel back home, Magnus. Toothless and I’ll stay with Klaus. And please, don’t tell anyone where I am” he instructed. Magnus giggled. Once she and Rubel had flown away, Hiccup swung himself onto Toothless’ saddle again. Klaus frowned, tensing. Hadn’t he just said they _wouldn’t_ be flying back?

Hiccup held a hand out to him. “We don’t have to fly, but it will be quicker to ride” he explained. Klaus hesitated, then gingerly made his way forwards. It felt wrong to ride a dragon, but at least they would be on the ground. He’d ridden a…well, he’d ridden a donkey before, and riding this dragon couldn’t be _too_ different, right? They both had four legs. So he climbed up behind Hiccup.

Once he was sure Klaus was steady, Hiccup said “Okay, bud, let’s head home.” The Swift-Wing snorted and turned, loping through the forest. As the dragon padded – trotted? – past the trees, Klaus’ mind was abuzz. Presently he recalled something that Magnus had said about the kind of dragons she called Spike-Tails and he thought of as Lucifer’s Birds (1). “Hiccup?” he prompted.

“Yes, Klaus?”

“Magnus said something earlier that I didn’t understand.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“She said that she hoped a…a Spike-Tail would choose her, when she came of age. What did she mean by choose?”

“Oh. Well, when someone on Berk comes of age – when they turn fifteen – they’re sailed out to Dragon Island, then they have to tame and ride back here on their new dragon. Only, for as long as we’ve been at peace with the dragons – before that, even – the dragon chose the rider as much as the rider chose the dragon” Hiccup explained.

“I don’t understand” Klaus admitted. How could a dragon _choose_ a rider?

“It’s like…” Hiccup struggled to think of a way to explain it. “Whenever one of us found a dragon to ride, it kind of went both ways. Take my dad, for instance. He didn’t always ride Skull Crusher; his first dragon was a Bellower. He decided that was the dragon for him, but the dragon didn’t exactly agree. It wasn’t until my dad helped him defend his friend from wild boars that Thornado chose to let my dad ride him.

“Same with Skull Crusher. My dad saw there was more to him than we thought; he showed Skull respect, so Skull Crusher chose him. Gobber showed Grump kindness when he was being used by hunters, and Grump chose him. Even Toothless…sure, at first he had to let me ride him, but once I made him a tail-fin that would let him fly on his own, and he broke it. He didn’t want to fly without me. He’d _chosen_ me. Do you see what I mean?” he asked.

Klaus thought about it. He had already worked out that the dragons must need their riders for something – perhaps to do things or go places they could not. So this must be how they decided which human they would allow to ride them. “I think so” he answered at last.

“Funny thing is, different dragons tend to choose riders who fit with their personalities. Fire-Scales like riders who are strong-willed and independent. Spike-Tails are drawn to riders who are confident and a bit sassy. Rock-Tails are fond of riders who are kind and helpful. I mean, it doesn’t always turn out like that, but the bond between dragon and rider is unique to them.”

“And…and Swift-Wings?” Klaus inquired, remembering just in time these people’s name for the Night Demon. He had a feeling that they wouldn’t be too pleased if they knew what he had been taught to call dragons. “What kind of riders do they choose?”

“That’s a good question. I mean, so far, the only Swift-Wing I know of who has chosen a rider is the one we’re riding on right now. And I think he chose me…because I chose him too. We are soulmates, after all” Hiccup reasoned, with a fond smile. Toothless glanced back at him and purred affectionately.

That was something else Klaus didn’t understand. He wanted to protest that the Night Demon couldn’t be Hiccup’s soulmate – dragons didn’t even have souls. It didn’t really seem like a good time. Instead he asked, “Does that mean you don’t know what kind of rider a Swift-Wing would choose?”

A few moments passed before Hiccup answered, but when he did, his reply…should have seemed arrogant, yet was strangely profound. “I think they’d choose…someone extraordinary.”

* * *

Once they’d safely returned Klaus to the village, Hiccup and Toothless returned to their duties. Left to his own devices, Klaus looked around awkwardly, not sure what to do. He sat in the doorstep of Hiccup’s parents’ house. Klaus thought about going inside, but the thought of being in a wooden house with fire breathing dragons around made him shiver. It seemed like everywhere he looked there were dragons; gulping down the fish left out for them in large basins, or rolling around in hot coals, or perched on carved wooden poles.

He could not make heads or tails of it. The people here treated the dragons like harmless pets, scratching their belly’s or under their chins, playing fetch with them, using their flames to cook food. Dragons swept overhead, young teens astride them, laughing and hollering. It was difficult for Klaus to imagine these dragons as village destroying, mindless vicious creatures of destruction.

Yet…that was what dragons were! Klaus could only remember one time dragons had attacked his village, and it had been the worst day of his life. He vividly remembered being woken in the middle of the night by screaming; being dragged through the streets as everyone fled in a mad throng, fire everywhere, the terrible roars of dragons echoing through the air.

He remembered cowering in the nearest church with his mother and siblings, hidden behind its fireproof stone walls. He remembered how his mama had begged his papa not to leave, not to fight; how papa had kissed them all and told him, Klaus, to take care of their family. He remembered how his papa had not come back. He had been five years old, Edmund had been three, Georgia just a babe in arms.

Klaus prayed in his mind for protection almost constantly. His fear of dragons clashed with how these ones behaved, and the only way he could reconcile it all was by telling himself _It’s because of the Dragon Whisperer_. He didn’t know how, or why, but Hiccup had tamed these dragons and let them invade his village and his people’s lives.

Or…was it the other way around? Had the dragons somehow taken over the human’s minds? Before he came here, Klaus would have laughed off the idea as nonsense…but Hiccup had said, dragons were telepathic. _I don’t really believe that…do I?_ Klaus wasn’t sure, but if it was true, who was to say they hadn’t twisted the minds of these people?

The Dragon Whisperer said that the Night Demon he rode was his soulmate. That was impossible, dragons had no souls, they were created by Satan…but what if the dragon had done something to make Hiccup believe that? The thought was awful. Klaus had thought dragons were bad enough, but if they could really infect people’s minds the way the Devil himself did…

Klaus suddenly felt inexplicably annoyed with Hiccup. How dare the man be so…so…nice! He’d shown Klaus nothing but courtesy and concern since he arrived, and it was so hard to think of him as dangerous…but he could _control dragons._ Klaus wanted to like Hiccup, but in some ways the man scared him, because surely he was only being so kind in hopes of luring Klaus down a dark, ungodly path. _I won’t let that happen. I’m a Christian. I’m a good Christian!_

* * *

Klaus was deep in prayer, but then he heard three soft _thumps_ nearby and sensed shadows fall over him. He opened his eyes and flinched to see three dragons surrounding him, Hiccup and his mother and father on their backs. “Sorry, Klaus” Hiccup said apologetically, “We didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Hi Klaus!” a high-pitched voice piped up. He blinked and saw Hiccup’s young daughter, Helena, and that small Night Demon that followed her around, looking at him from over the Four-Wing’s head frill. Helena waved at him. Then the juvenile Night Demon leapt off the larger dragon’s shoulder and lolloped right up to him. Klaus went pale and tried to scramble away –

Another jet black dragon – not Toothless, the female one, Selena – leapt seemingly out of nowhere and pinned the smaller ones tail with her paw. “Bunny!” cried Helena, scrambling down to the ground and running over. “Aunt Selena, don’t be mean! Bunny’s just playing” she protested, hugging the squirming black hatchling.

“We know, sweetheart, but she’s scaring Klaus here. Don’t worry,” Hiccup added to Klaus, “She won’t hurt you. Bunny just wants to be friends.”

That was another thing. It was _really, really_ hard to remember that dragons were dangerous when they were given names like ‘Toothless’ and ‘Bunny’. Hiccup’s father, Stoick, said exasperatedly, “Hiccup, her name is _Ebony._ I mean, come on, she’s a Night Fury! Let the poor thing have some dignity.”

“Stoick, the word is ‘Swift-Wing’” his wife retorted with a mischievous smile, “and she doesn’t seem to mind. Besides, it’s a good troll-warding name.” The large man scowled a bit and grumbled about how he “could think of better ones for a dragon, thank you very much.”

Valka ignored him and turned back to Klaus. “I was just going to make us all a bit of lunch. Would you like to join us?” she offered. He fidgeted and hesitated. On the one hand, he hadn’t realised how hungry he was…on the other hand, as he’d discovered last night, Hiccup’s mother wasn’t really the best cook. That was probably what happened in a place where women fought like men.

“Actually, Val, I think I’ll make lunch this time” Stoick suggested. Klaus tried not to look too relieved. He accepted the invitation. It was nothing special, just bread, cheese and cold chicken…but this was no different to what Klaus had had his whole life (2).

Over lunch, Valka asked him “So, Klaus, how are you finding Berk so far?”

He wasn’t sure what to say. “It is...very different to my home” he finally replied.

“Aye, nobody quite knows what t’make of us nowadays” Stoick agreed. He drank a stein of mead in one gulp and asked, “It can’t be that different, though, surely? ‘Part from the dragons, I mean. If you met Johann, you must live in a fishing village, on the coast.”

“Oh, um, it’s a market town, sir” Klaus corrected him.

“What is your hometown like? You haven’t really talked about it” Valka noted.

Eager to talk about something other than dragons, Klaus explained, “It’s called Borgund, (3) ma’am. I live…I lived there with my mother, Rebecca, and my little brother and sister, Edmund and Georgia. The land is owned by the Giske clan; they keep an eye on things, collect taxes, that sort of thing. And we have the most beautiful churches – four of them, all built from marble. They’re truly a testament to the majesty of God” he smiled proudly.

“Every Sunday, we’d all go to Mass at our nearest church, and tithe, and listen to Father Oliver read us stories from the Bible. One of my favourites is the story of the miracle of feeding the five thousand. You see, there was a huge crowd listening to Jesus Christ and being healed by him, and when evening came, his disciples told him to send them all home so they could buy food.

“And he said, ‘they don’t have to leave, we will feed them’, but his disciples only had five little loaves and two fish. So Jesus took the food, and he gave thanks to God, and broke the loaves, and thousands of fish appeared out of nowhere, and everyone got enough to eat” Klaus described. With a nervous smile, he tried to make a joke. “It’s a good thing there weren’t any dragons around though. They’d have eaten everything, even the people!”  

Even by his standards, it was a terrible joke. Hiccup and his parents glanced at each other awkwardly. “Um, Klaus…dragons don’t eat humans” Hiccup told him. Well, a few of the dragon kinds did, but he wasn’t going to mention that.

“….W-well, even if that were true, they’d still have eaten all the fish.”

“He’s not wrong there” Stoick agreed, “Odin knows those flying behemoths have bottomless pits instead of stomachs…ach, don’t look at me like that, you two!” he protested, seeing his wife and son’s disapproving glares. Worse, Toothless and Selena were staring as well, looking offended. “You know I love dragons as much as th’ next Berkian, but you also know how much they eat!”

“Not another word, Stoick. You know that the dragons do their best to make sure _all_ of us are well fed; and they can go much longer without food than we could” Valka reminded him sternly.

“Good thing too, or we wouldn’t make it through the winter” Stoick grumbled. “It feels sacrilegious to say it, but I almost wish someone would come along and make fish appear out of nowhere for us.” That was one thing that they hadn’t been able to find a perfect solution to; all the dragons eating all the fish. It was bountiful enough in spring and summer, but they had to rotate the fishing grounds more often, and Urchin would swim leagues away to find more shoals.

In winter, there were fewer fish, so the dragons left what little there was to the humans. Most of the pack would fly south to the breeding grounds, even when the Hatching wasn’t happening, just to find more food. The ones who stayed would become lethargic, sleeping off the hunger in long naps through the short days and long dark nights. It was as close as they came to hibernating.

“…Don’t you think you’d have more fish to spare if…if the dragons weren’t here?” Klaus asked tentatively. Perhaps he could persuade them, persuade Hiccup, to make the dragons go away. Without the dragons devilish influence over their minds, then surely their eyes would be opened to the glory of God, and they would repent and be saved.

Hiccup shrugged and replied, “We manage. Like mom says, the dragons can go longer than we can without food, they just go to sleep. And I kind of found a way to keep the dragons fed throughout the winter. We keep a barrel of fish stored away from each fishing trip when times are good, and then when times are hard I give them all a few fish each. That way no dragon can eat more than their fair share.”

He then added, “I’m guessing this means you’re still not keen on them, huh? That’s fine. To each his own…I mean, it’s not like you’re hunting them, so no harm done really…” Hiccup was clearly trying not to look disappointed.

“You don’t like dragons?” Helena asked. Whereas Hiccup actually tried (albeit badly) to hide how he felt, the little girl wore her feelings plain on her face. Klaus felt bad, especially when Bunny crept up and pouted at him as well. _She looks so cute…but that’s just because she’s a baby_ he told himself.

“Not everyone likes dragons as much as we do, dear” Valka told Helena, stroking her hair. Ebony whimpered and nudged her hand, begging for pets of her own. “It doesn’t make them bad people. Like your dad says, they’re only being bad if they hurt dragons. Klaus doesn’t want to hurt dragons, do you?” 

“Oh! No, ma’am. I don’t want to hurt anyone” Klaus said hurriedly. _How could I hurt a dragon anyway? They’d squash me flat!_ “And I don’t – I mean, I’m scared of dragons, yes, but um, _your_ dragons are okay.” He could admit that much, at least, surely. “I mean, you make them behave, so they’re safe. It’s just all the other dragons I don’t like” he told Hiccup.

“...I don’t really _make_ them behave” Hiccup said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck, “They’ve got minds of their own, I’m just good at getting them to calm down. I can do it with wild dragons too…most of the time. Hey!” He brightened up, “I just had an idea. Why don’t I show you how to tame wild dragons?”

Klaus stiffened. “Um, actually, I heard about that in the err, the lesson today. Um, can we please talk about something else?” he begged.

“Oh…sure, no problem. Just let me know if you want any pointers, okay?”

Klaus nodded, if only to appease him. To his relief, Helena demanded another story, so he searched his memories for other biblical tales to regale them with. “I know another nice one. It’s called ‘The Tale of the Good Samaritan…’.”

* * *

After lunch, Klaus kept telling stories to Helena whilst her grandmother cleared away the dishes. Hiccup and Toothless left to get back to work; Stoick caught them on the way out. “Hiccup, son, are you sure having that boy stay here on Berk was such a good idea?”

“Oh, not you too” Hiccup groaned, “Dad, he’s just a kid. I know we’re having to be careful after what happened with Harald, but don’t you think suspecting a thirteen year old is taking things a bit far?”

 _*_ That’s just what they’d want you to think* Toothless teased unhelpfully.

Stoick sighed and rubbed his brow. “It’s not that, son. He’s telling Helena all these stories of his own gods, and she’s just a wee bairn, she’ll believe anything at this age…”

“Really? That’s what you’re worried about? Alright, when I put her to bed tonight I’ll tell her the story of how Loki sired Sleipnir. That’s bound to persuade her to believe in our gods over Klaus’” Hiccup said sarcastically. Ignoring his father’s scowl, he added “And by the way, Christians like Klaus believe in _one_ all-powerful god, dad, not a pantheon like we do.”

“He said his god has a son, that ‘Jesus’ fellow. He has to be a god too.”

“Apparently Jesus _is_ God. They’re two forms of the same being – or at least that’s what Klaus told me.”

“You mean to say this ‘Jesus’ is his own father? That’s ridiculous!”

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. “More ridiculous than a guy giving birth to an eight legged horse?”

Stoick glared. “Our myths and legends are an important part of our heritage, Hiccup. I won’t have you disrespecting them” he said sternly.

“Oh, believe me, I mean no disrespect at all. Just leave Klaus be, dad, please” Hiccup begged. “If you’re so sure our gods are the true ones and his is false, it shouldn’t matter if he thinks it’s the other way around.” He swung himself into the saddle. “I have to go. I’ll see you later.” Toothless spread his wings and took off, leaving Stoick to his thoughts.

Above the island, Toothless asked him, *Alright, what’s wrong?*

“What? Nothing’s wrong. I just can’t believe my dad…I mean, sure, maybe Klaus is trying to convince us to believe in his god, but he’s not being rude about it. It’s not like he’s standing in the middle of the village, yelling at us all and saying we’re doomed to suffer for eternity if we don’t change our wicked ways.”

*Like getting rid of the dragons* said Toothless. He twitched uneasily and continued, *I don’t want to believe it, any more than you do, but what if Klaus…? He might not even realise what he’s doing, but our enemies would love it if the dragons were sent away...*

Hiccup groaned in exasperation. “Oh, not you too. Why would anyone expect a teenage boy to convince us to get rid of our dragons? We’re not that stupid.”

*Wasn’t it a teenage boy who convinced your people to live with dragons in the first place?*

“Very funny.”

*I thought so. Hiccup, I don’t really think Klaus is a bad person...but he’s working for Johann. As in, the same Johann who sold us out to dragon hunters for years to save his own skin. What if he hasn’t changed, and he’s doing that again? What if he left Klaus here on purpose?* Toothless questioned.

Hiccup frowned thoughtfully. He didn’t want to admit it, but Toothless had a point. “Okay, well, there’s an easy way to sort this. All we have to do is ask Klaus if anyone, including Johann, told him to try and make us send the dragons away. But I’m pretty sure the answer will be ‘no’ and this’ll all be a misunderstanding.”

*I hope you’re right* Toothless replied, before they were distracted by a knot of squabbling dragons. After pausing the conversation to break the fight up and arbitrate on whatever had set them at each other’s throats in the first place, the Alphas resumed their flight and Toothless remarked, *You still haven’t said what’s bothering you. You’ve been feeling uneasy since lunchtime; since Klaus said he was still scared of dragons.*

Hiccup didn’t answer, but he felt the man tense. *It might be a bit early, yet* Toothless reminded him, trying to croon encouragingly. *He’s only been here a couple of days. Maybe he just needs more time* the dragon suggested.

“I know…it’s good that he seems to be okay with our dragons, but he said himself, he thinks you guys are only behaving because I’m _making_ you behave. It’s the whole ‘Dragon Whisperer’ thing…I don’t know how I can persuade him, or anyone for that matter, that dragons are good if the only proof I have is _our_ dragons, and they think I’m making them be good. Does that even make sense?”

Toothless picked the thought up in his jaws and chewed on it, learning the shape and taste of it. He couldn’t quite figure it out. Picking up on his confusion, Hiccup struggled to explain, “I don’t know how to convince him that I don’t control dragons. If I could show him that it isn’t just _our_ dragons who can be tamed…but that won’t work either, he’ll just think I’m the only one who can do it. And if I try to show _him_ how to tame dragons, he’ll probably think I’m making the dragon be tame so they don’t harm us. _Nothing_ I say or show to him will work” Hiccup complained, rubbing his temple.

Toothless thought _really, really_ hard about it, and he began to get some idea of what Hiccup was trying to say. *What if you weren’t there?* he suggested. *What if he had to tame a dragon, but you weren’t around? Then he wouldn’t think you were making the dragon do anything.*

Hiccup hesitated. “That…could work, but if he found out it was set up, he’d trust me even less” he sighed. Hiccup wasn’t _that_ unobservant; he had already guessed that Klaus was probably afraid of him. “Besides, I…I don’t want to _trick_ him into liking dragons. I want him to change his mind because he chose to, not because he was made to.”

*Well, then, I have absolutely no idea what to do* Toothless declared bluntly. He glanced back at his rider and found Hiccup frowning at him, but with a bit of an amused smile tugging at the edge of his lips. Toothless gave a gummy smile back and beat his wings harder, taking them higher to do some _proper_ flying, not all this dull safe gliding. That always cheered Hiccup up, and judging by the yell of delight from his shoulders as they suddenly plummeted, it was working.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Hiccup found Klaus with Fishlegs. Helena was playing with Aegir whilst his adoptive father gave the boy a few basic reading lessons. Klaus looked almost relieved when Hiccup arrived; clearly the lessons hadn’t been going so well. “Klaus? Can I talk to you in private for a minute?” asked Hiccup.

Fishlegs left them to it; Hiccup sat down in his vacated seat and leant an arm against the table. “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. It’s just…how do I…you’ve met Fishlegs’ cousin, Skulder, I assume?” he asked out of the blue.

“Um, yes?”

“He was away from Berk for a long time. He only came back last autumn. Except that the people he came back with…were bounty hunters. And he didn’t know that, but they had been paid to capture me and Toothless…and they almost succeeded” Hiccup said gravely. Klaus’ eyes widened.

“We’ve been on edge ever since, trying to ward off another attack or scheme…I hate to have to ask you this, Klaus, but…did someone _tell_ you to persuade us to send our dragons away? It’s okay, we won’t blame you if they did, but I need to know. Our safety depends on it” he said urgently.

Klaus fidgeted uncomfortably. He couldn’t tell Hiccup the truth about why he’d stayed, unaware that the man had already figured him out. “N-no, nobody told me to” he said at last. “I didn’t know anything about these attacks. I swear, Hiccup, I’m not a – a spy or anything, I just-!” He cut himself off.

“I know! I didn’t really think you were. I just had to be…y’know, better safe than sorry. I really can’t be too careful nowadays.” To his dragon he added, *What d’you think? Is he genuine?*

Dragons could read body language far better than humans, which meant they were all but impossible to lie to. *He’s telling the truth. He really had no idea* Toothless informed him, with a satisfied rumbling purr.

*Good to know.* Out loud, Hiccup said to a puzzled Klaus, “Listen, I…it’s okay if you don’t like dragons, or you’re still scared of them…but do you see now why we can’t get rid of them? We need them. For protection, if nothing else.”

Klaus’ face was unreadable. “I…Yes, I understand” he said at last. Hiccup nodded and made to leave, but just as he was opening the door, Klaus suddenly called out, “Hiccup, wait!”

He paused. “Yes, Klaus?”

“I just…” Klaus hesitated, and then took the plunge. “Don’t you think, if the dragons weren’t here...wouldn’t these dragon hunters stop attacking you?”

Hiccup stared at him, and Klaus swallowed hard, certain that he’d crossed a line. Then the man shook his head and sighed. “Perhaps, but that would be rather cowardly, don’t you think? And I’d be breaking up families, friendships…the dragons won’t leave their riders. I’m sorry, Klaus, but the dragons stay. Whether you like it or not.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) I’m trying to base the alternative names for the dragon breeds on the seven deadly sins and the demons associated with them. Lucifer is associated with pride, and Spike-Tails are well known for being vain. Or ‘Glutton’ for the ‘greedy’ Boulder Class dragons, like Rock-Tails and Wing-Sleepers.
> 
> (2) Let us not question how, or even if, Valka could have managed to mess up preparing cold food.
> 
> (3) This is the name of a market town that existed in the 11th century, around where Alesund is today. Everything that Klaus says about it is as historically accurate as I could get.


	4. Part Four

At last, after two days’ worth of flying, the shores of…well, the Shivering Shores were in sight. “Good girl, Stormfly” Astrid praised her dragon wearily, patting the Spike-Tail’s neck. Stormfly gave an appreciative, if tired warble and kept course for the village spread out, much like Berk, on the cliffs. She landed in the square, and when Astrid had dismounted, stretched her wings out.

Several people were waiting to greet the pair. The most decorated of them stepped forwards and inclined his head in the barest show of respect courtesy would allow. Astrid squared her shoulders and returned the same. “Chief Baugi of the Shivering Shores. Well met” she greeted formally. They stepped forwards and gripped each other’s right forearms in a show of good faith.

“Chief Astrid...well met” the older man replied, looking as if someone had tried to make him swallow dung. His grip was tight; Astrid just smiled sweetly and sank her nails into his flesh. Baugi released her immediately and stepped back. “You must be weary after your long flight. Shall I have someone take your dragon to the stables?” he offered, for politeness’ sake if nothing else.

Astrid’s smile grew even wider. “Yes; a private stable, if you don’t mind, away from the other animals. Stormfly doesn’t like the smell. With fresh straw for her to bed down in. Oh, and have someone fetch her fresh water, and freshly cooked chicken of course. It’s her favourite, isn’t that right girl?” she cooed at Stormfly, giving her dragon a wink. As a chief it was within her rights to make such demands, so long as they weren’t too outrageous.

*You’re being very bad* Stormfly chirped amusedly at her, as Baugi reluctantly acquiesced. A young man approached nervously with a rope in his hands; she hissed at him and he flinched. *Twitchy, isn’t he?*

“Must we do this every time?” Astrid sighed, exasperated. “You should all know by now, the rope isn’t necessary. Stormfly is very well behaved…so long as you don’t treat her like a pet” she said pointedly to the stable hand, who gulped. “Oh! I almost forgot” Astrid exclaimed, retrieving her axe and the bottle of wine from the saddlebag. She patted the Spike-Tail’s flank and said, “Go with the nice young man, Stormfly. If he tries to put a rope on you, pin his shirt to the wall.”

Stormfly stalked off after the young man, head raised high and haughty. Astrid had to suppress the urge to laugh. She turned back to Baugi and held out the bottle of wine. “A token of Berk’s goodwill to the people of the Shivering Shores” she explained. Usually, she would add “and of my appreciation for your hospitality”, but she didn’t _have_ to say that, it was just an extra courtesy.

Still, it was clear from the sour look on Baugi’s face that he’d noticed the snub. Well, when he stopped acting like she was no true Chief just because she was a woman, than she’d consider returning that same respect to him. Until then, however… Greedy man that he was, he couldn’t resist taking the bottle. “I thank you for your offering, Astrid. Come, my servants have prepared a feast.”

* * *

The meal was indeed fit for a chieftain; that much was clear from the way Baugi stuffed his face and guzzled the wine. Astrid, sitting opposite him, stayed as far back as possible. He swallowed a huge mouthful of boar meat and stifled a burp behind the back of his hand. “Excuse me. So, how are things over in the dragons nest?” he asked with a throaty guffaw.

“Things on Berk are going very well, thank you for asking” Astrid replied, putting just the slightest stress on the name of her village. She purposefully didn’t elaborate, and cast around for a change of topic, but Baugi pressed the issue.

“You’re still coping with all those ruddy huge reptiles? That man of yours still keeping ‘em all in line?”

She gave him a cool stare and responded, “As a matter of fact, yes. Hiccup has done a wonderful job blending our dragons into life on Berk. With their help we can find and catch far more fish than with mere boats, and our farmers have had excellent yields ever since Hiccup and our friend Fishlegs worked out that the Rock-Tails magma could be used to help the crops grow better.” (1)

Baugi frowned, puzzled. “Eh? Rock-Tails? That some new breed of dragon?”

Astrid sighed a bit and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I was referring to Gronckles, actually. Back on Berk, we use less…offensive names for the dragon breeds nowadays. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before…” _Like, every single time I come here, every year, you boorish, ignorant oaf._

“Oh…right, of course. My mistake.” Baugi coughed, a horrible hacking wet sound, and thumped his chest. “ _Ugh._ Good to know, good to know. Wish I could say the same…” He trailed off, eyeing Astrid as if hoping she would ask _him_ to elaborate. Astrid just sipped from her goblet (okay, she had to admit, this really was good wine) and casually remarked, “That’s a shame.”

His brow furrowed, slightly offended. “Yes, well…it’s nothing too bad” Baugi declared defensively. “Nothing we can’t handle. It’s just tha’ the…trade from th’ mainland’s been a bit…” He waggled his meaty, hairy hand in a ‘so-so’ kind of way. “Like, they’re still _comin_ g, it’s just that they, uh…they’ve got less goods nowadays. I mean, they’re still bringing, like, food and everything.  Don’t want ya thinkin’ we’re starvin’ over here!” he guffawed. Then he seemed to lose his line of thought.

Astrid waited for him get back to it, counting backwards from ten to keep her patience. Finally, after another gulp of wine, he explained, “But yeah, th’ other stuff – silk n’ spices, ‘specially weapons…the finer things in life, y’know…and a lot of ‘em were bringing _back_ what we were tryin’ to trade. They couldn’t sell it. Nobody’d buy it, cos it came from the north…from the archipelago.”

Brow furrowed, Astrid questioned “What’s so bad about trading with the archipelago? All of the tribes in it have been trading with those on the archipelago for years.” Even as she spoke, it occurred to Astrid that lately, the other traders (apart from Johann) did have a lot less of the…call them non-essential trading goods with them. She’d not thought much of it because so long as they had the goods they needed, there wasn’t too much of a problem – but now she realised that had been short-sighted of her.

“Uh, well, there’s that um…that newfangled religion, wassit, Christianity (2). They believe dragons are demons. I can kinda see where they’re comin’ from…” Baugi said vaguely. Astrid glared fiercely at him. He gulped and got back on topic. “From what I’ve gathered, folks on the mainland know these traders are toing n’ froing in th’ archipelago…an’ they know some o’ the tribes round ‘ere are uh, friends with th’ dragons…so they think, um, that maybe they don’t wanna be trading so much anymore with uh, heathens, as it were.”

Astrid sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. “I see. The villages we trade with have converted to Christianity, and now they’re refusing to trade with us because of our peace with the dragons” she summed up.

Baugi grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck. “About that…it’s not _just_ cos we – um, by ‘we’ I mean you, Berk an’ th’ others who do the whole ‘dragon riding’ thing...it’s also cos, or so I’ve heard, um…don’t take this th’ wrong way…but folks on th’ mainland don’t really know where all th’ different tribes are, or who’s part of which, so um…”

“For once, Baugi, please just get to the point.”

He took a deep breath, looked her right in the eye and said bluntly, “They don’t wanna trade…because they don’t want to help your husband and his dragon army.”

His words sent a stone dropping with a thud into Astrid’s stomach. _Not this again._ Astrid suddenly burned with indignant fury on Hiccup’s behalf. _All_ he had done was try to bring peace, to make life better for humans and dragons alike…and yet blame was still being directed at him, instead of at the true source of this conflict, Adulfr. Religious differences or not, trying to sanction an entire archipelago because they were afraid one man _might_ do something bad…why were they so afraid of Hiccup anyway? He hadn’t _done_ anything!

“What about the traders? Surely they are the ones being affected the most by this.”

“Aye…I think they’re just pretending they’re not trading with dragon lovers, and hopin’ fer the best. I dun’ think they’ve said it’s _your_ island that’s got the dragon army.” At her glare, he hastily amended, “Not army. Flock? Anyway…” Baugi cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Now shee – see here’s th’ thing, Astrid” he slurred. Good grief, how much of that wine had he drank? “I dun’ mean to…ish nothing _personal_ , right” Baugi’s mouth stretched into what was probably supposed to be a smile, and he reached over to pat her hand.

Astrid snatched it away and asked sharply, “What do you want?" 

His face fell. “I’m very sorry to tell you…but I’m afraid this will be th’ last treaty signing with Berk for…for the fore-see-able future” Baugi said slowly.

 _I don’t believe it…_ “Last signing? You’re breaking your compact with Berk?” Astrid asked, hoping her incredulous tone would mask the glee she felt. _Please say yes, please oh please say yes…_

“Now, now, it’s nothin’ personal, like I said” he repeated, as if trying to reassure her. “Ish just…I gotta put my tribe first, y’know? And if the trade from the mainland is this bad, and we’re the closest – I mean, the Shivering Shores is practically a stone’s throw from th’ mainland…I guess what I’m saying is that, for the sake of my tribe, it’d be better if we were not allied with, um, dragon lovers, such as yerselves. No offence.”

Astrid stared at him. “So what you’re saying is, you’d rather break ties with Berk and get all the shiny weapons and fancy silk you could ask for from the mainland, than be associated with ‘dragon lovers’.  You do realise that the Outcasts, Berserkers and even the Meatheads have made peace with dragons too. You’d have to cut ties with all of them. The Bog-Burglars cut you off a long time ago” – _and good on them, too –_ “so you’d have no-one to turn to in times of need. The other tribes would have no obligation to help you."

Baugi looked unfocused. Either that wine was really potent or he was more of a lightweight than she’d thought. Astrid herself was starting to feel a buzz at the back of her head…gingerly, she reached out and turned the bottle around, peering at the label. It had looked rather familiar…finally the pieces clicked into place. This was the same wine that Johann had brought to Berk once before, the one that had got Hiccup stupid drunk within two steins and had him puking most of the day after. It was a good thing she could hold her alcohol.

“Um, yeah…I s’pose so…” Baugi nodded slowly. He rubbed his head and insisted, “But th’ Shivering Shores can stand on ish own! We dun need no allies…”

 _Good, because soon you won’t have any, you deluded buffoon. You’re a coward, Baugi._ The worst part was that Baugi’s own son, Mundi, was probably well on his way to becoming as bad as his father. “Well, it would certainly be a shame if your tribe cut ties with Berk” Astrid remarked, keeping her voice neutral, “but I understand your reasoning. I take it you’ve rewritten the treaty?”

“Aye” Baugi nodded. His servants cleared away the meal and brought out the treaty scroll, complete with quill and ink. Astrid plucked it away and skimmed through it, noting the changes. “Mmhm, mmhm…didn’t you say the mainlanders were also refusing to trade because of their religion? Are you planning to convert your tribe to Christianity too?” she inquired casually.

“Uh…maybe?” Baugi said uncertainly, before shaking his head slowly and mumbling “I mean, nah…not us. Vikings t’ the end…”

After Astrid was satisfied with her own changes to the treaty, she signed it with a flourish and handed it back. Baugi scrawled his own messy signature, and she stood up to leave. “Wait!” he cried, hauling himself up out of his chair and lurching towards her.

Gritting her teeth, Astrid turned and tightly asked, “What is it now?”

He stepped close to her. He reeked of the wine and the meat and whatever other unpleasant odours hung about him. Astrid leaned subtly away from him, but he leaned forwards, invading her personal space. “I jus’ wan’ you t’know…this is nothin’ personal” he repeated. “It’s not cos I don’t like you, cos really, you’re one o’ the prettiest things I ever saw…” He made a clumsy, drunken grab for her breast.

The next moment he was flat on his back, with Astrid’s axe at his throat. “You don’t fucking touch me” she hissed at him, eyes wild with fury. “You don’t touch me, not unless you want me to take your _family jewels_ and serve them to you on a _platter_. Or to put it another way, Baugi, you touch, _I chop_.”

Unable to stand the sight of him any longer, Astrid turned on her heel and stormed out of the longhouse, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Astrid stomped through the darkened streets of the village, absolutely fuming. Uncaring who heard her, she muttered angrily to herself, “I can’t believe – the nerve of that boorish, dirty old pervert! At least it took him getting sloshed to try to – _ugh_ – but all those years of – argh! ‘I guess you’re a good Chief, for a woman’. Better chief than _you_. ‘There, there, you’re a woman so you’re weak’ – no, _you’re_ a selfish coward, so _you’re_ weak…”

Such was her anger, that she wasn’t paying as much attention as she normally would to her surroundings. Although she only came here once a year (and was she ever glad it would never be again), Astrid was familiar with the way to the stables where Stormfly was kept. When she got there, all of the stall doors were closed. That wasn’t right – at least one of them should have been open.

At last Astrid sensed something was wrong. She ran to the one stall that was completely shut; all the others had the top half of the door open. It was the furthest one, and she had a strong suspicion that it was where her dragon was being kept. Keeping a tight grip on her axe, she looked around the stable yard suspiciously, searching for any sign of an ambush.

The yard was utterly deserted; the only sound the grunts and shifting of the few hardy work ponies in their stables. One of them, a brown one with a white stripe down its long face, stuck its head over the top of its stall door and nickered at her. Astrid frowned. She remembered now that she hadn’t actually _asked_ for Stormfly’s door to be left ajar. She’d merely assumed it would be. Maybe the stable hand who put Stormfly in the stable was new and didn’t know.

At any rate, Astrid had a sudden urge to get the heck off this island. Hopefully Stormfly would be rested enough for them to make it to a small, uninhabited island to camp out on for the rest of the night. She undid the latch and pulled open the door, taking care to open both halves of it at once. The stall was dark, but light from the moon and flickering torches flooded in and revealed Stormfly lying in the straw, unconscious…and in chains, with a cloaked figure standing over her in the shadows, holding a crossbow with a dragon-root arrow notched in it.

Livid, Astrid rushed at her dragon’s assailant, axe raised high – they aimed the crossbow, not at her, but at Stormfly’s underside. “Don’t move!” they hissed, and damn it all, but she hesitated. That cost her – someone else grabbed her from behind, putting something sharp and cold to her neck. At first Astrid thought it was the tip of a knife, but then she realised it was a hook. The other man snatched her axe away, and her captor’s other arm came across her chest - it also ended in a hook… _Wait a minute…_

The shorter man threw back his hood with one hand and sneered at her. Sure enough, it was one of those bounty hunters that had kidnapped Hiccup all those years ago. She didn’t know their names, so she thought of them as ‘Ugly’ and ‘Dumb’. “Gotcha!” hissed Ugly, with a triumphant smug grin. “Don’t even think about screaming for help, missy, or your precious dragon gets it.”

He was aiming the arrow at Stormfly’s heart. Glaring hatefully, Astrid reluctantly kept her voice down. “That’s ‘Chief’ to you. What are you two morons even _doing_ here?” she demanded. It had been how long? Nine, ten years? And now they were crawling out of the woodwork again, like cockroaches. _Wonderful_.

Ugly smirked humourlessly and replied, “Bounty hunting, o’course. What else? And we’ve got a doozy this time. We just needed you, your chiefliness” he said mockingly. Astrid kept glaring at him, but underneath she was puzzled. Had someone put a bounty on her? Why? Unless…

“Um, Amos?” the man holding a dirty but sharp hook to her throat, Dumb, asked uncertainly. “I thought the bounty was on the other guy.”

Ugly – no, Amos, but she still thought of him as ‘Ugly’ – rolled his eyes in disgust. “It _is,_ Berthel. Do we have to go over the plan _again_? We kidnap the Dragon Whisperer’s wife, and use her as ransom to get to him.”

Astrid couldn’t believe her ears. She couldn’t help herself. She _laughed._ “That…that’s your plan? That is the _stupidest…_ I mean, I’ve heard a lot of bad plans, but this one is just ridiculous. Do you seriously think holding me as bait is gonna end well for you?”

At their feet, Stormfly began to stir. Both men flinched, and Astrid had to as well, just to keep Berthel’s hook from sinking into her skin. “Seriously?” she scoffed, “You’ve got my dragon tied up and muzzled, and you’re still scared of her? What were you planning to do against five dragons, with one crossbow and one brain between you?”

Amos scowled. “Think you’re clever, don’t ya? Well, we already thought o’that. Your husband and your friends ain’t gonna do jack squat to us, cos if they do, we’ll kill ya” he threatened.

“Yeah” Berthel yukked, “We’ll kill ya.”

“Now here’s what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna tell the Nadder to fly back home t’ your island, and your husband is gonna find that there message” Amos explained, nodding at a scroll of parchment tied to one of Stormfly’s head-spikes. “Then you’re gonna come with us quietly, and nobody gets hurt.”

Astrid raised an eyebrow. “And when Stormfly’s gone, what’s to stop me from beating the shit out of you both?”

“You’ll see. So, you gonna do as we say?”

At that moment, Stormfly woke up properly. The feel of the muzzle and chains made her panic and she thrashed, struggling to stand up and flick her spikes out. “Stormfly! It’s okay, girl!” Astrid called to her. She saw her rider being held prisoner by two humans, and now she was awake she recognised them as the humans who had once tried to kidnap Alpha-Hiccup.

Stormfly growled. *Let my human go!* she snarled at them, standing sideways so they couldn’t step into her blind spot and raising the spikes all along her tail. They snagged in the chain coiled around it and she slashed her tail through the air, banging it against the stable wall to try and dislodge the chain.

“Calm down!” Astrid instructed her.

*Astrid, they’re trying to capture us! We have to fight!* Stormfly protested. Why wasn’t her rider fighting back? It was not like Astrid to meekly surrender like this. She caught her rider’s eye and saw that Astrid was silently urging her to trust. Astrid had a plan, she just couldn’t explain what it was, not in front of their enemies. *I trust you…* Stormfly whined nervously, reluctantly lowering her tail. The scared hook-handed human looked very relieved.

Astrid smiled gratefully at her, and then glared contemptuously at Amos. “Alright, fine. You win. Just let my dragon go, and don’t hurt her.”

So Amos took the chain from around Stormfly’s wings and tail, and the muzzle. Resisting the urge to bite them, Stormfly looked questioningly at Astrid. “It’s okay, girl. I’ll be fine. Get help. Get Hiccup.”

Tense with reluctance, Stormfly declared *We’ll be back for you, Astrid*, before running out of the stable and taking a running jump out of the sky.

Amos stepped up to Astrid, a wicked grin on his face. “Alright, your chiefliness, we can do this the hard way, or the easy way” he told her.

“You moron, that’s not even” –

“Easy way it is!” He suddenly pressed a cloth to her face, covered with the same sleeping potion they’d slipped into the Nadder’s drinking water. They’d used most of it to get the dragon asleep, but these last few drops would do the trick. Sure enough, she slumped in Berthel’s arms, unconscious. “Aw, look, the great Chief of Berk, sleeping like a baby” he sneered. “I’m tellin’ ya, Berthel. This is the easiest job we’ve ever done.”

* * *

Spreading the Good Word, Klaus had decided, was a lot harder than it seemed.

The trouble was, he didn’t really know _how._ He was sure there was a way to convert people; he’d simply never considered what it was. Klaus had already resolved to pay far more attention in church. Perhaps there had been a lesson or message about this very problem and he had missed it.

He told the younger kids on Berk and the ones his age who would listen stories about Jesus’ miracles and the good lessons he had taught to his disciples and followers through the Bible. It made sense to him, to tell them to the children. After all, he had been taught these stories as a child. The grown-ups were too set in their ways, he thought, surely they wouldn’t listen.

He did, however, try to drop little hints here and there that maybe, just maybe, having dragons around was doing more harm than help. If he could just make them see…the Dragon Whisperer had made it clear that the dragons had to stay, but Klaus didn’t really understand his reasons. The people he’d talked to said that Hiccup had enemies who hated his love of dragons…but surely, if the dragons weren’t around, those enemies would have no reason to attack.

He supposed he could see why the Vikings who had dragons to ride would not want them to leave. Still, if that were so, then why not send away the dragons with no human masters? Hiccup had talked of ‘breaking apart families’ and insisted that it was his and Toothless’ job to keep the pack, as he called it, united and whole. The only objection Klaus could think of was that, surely, the dragons could take care of themselves? Or had these dragons become so used to their tame servitude that they wouldn’t survive in the wild?

Klaus didn’t know why he almost felt… _concerned_ for the dragons. It couldn’t be because he cared about them. He _feared_ them, he _hated_ them…well, he couldn’t quite honestly say he hated these dragons. Sure, they seemed like a nuisance to him, but it was really difficult to see them as demonic harbingers of destruction when, if they did destroy something, it was usually by accident, and they always looked almost guilty when they did it.

On the afternoon of his fourth day on Berk, Klaus was talking to Magnus down at the docks, the two of them sitting on the edge of the pier and dangling their feet off the end. That is, Magnus was dangling her feet off, but an airy remark from her about there being a sea dragon – she called it a Steam-Spitter, called ‘Sagu’ or something  – somewhere in the harbour made Klaus a lot less willing.

“…and then Jesus said to them, ‘let he who is without sin cast the first stone’” Klaus was saying, “but you see, because of Eve’s temptation and the Fall of Man, we’re _all_ sinners. Maybe not in big ways – we don’t all go around, I dunno, killing and stealing and being unfaithful – and a good thing, too! Imagine how awful that would be. But nobody’s perfect.”

“Wait…so was he saying that we can’t punish people for being bad because we’ve all done bad stuff?” Magnus asked with an incredulous, puzzled frown.

“No, not like that” Klaus shook his head, “Everybody sins, but some sins are worse than others. Jesus also said, um…it was something like, ‘first cast the beam out of your own eye, and then you shall see clearly to take the mote out of your brothers eye’. Um, it doesn’t have to be your brother, it could be anyone, cos it’s a metaphor, you see? What Jesus is trying to say is, we shouldn’t pretend we’re not flawed and judge others for being flawed, because we’re _all_ flawed. The only being who truly has the right to judge us all is God, because he made us.”

Magnus looked thoughtful, which was a promising sign. “The son of your god does _sound_ like a nice man…” she admitted. Klaus’ heart swelled with hope. Magnus swung her legs back and forth idly. “Why do you believe in him?” 

That bubble of hope in his chest grew even bigger. Fighting to keep an anxious grin off his face, Klaus replied, “ I believe…because it feels right. It would be so terribly wrong to not believe; how could I, when Jesus gave His life for me? For all of us? He died so that we could be saved, because He loves us…the least I can do is love Him back and believe in Him, worship Him. I’m not perfect, not like He is, but I can thank Him for His sacrifice.”

That thoughtful look was back, and Klaus couldn’t help but hope. Maybe, just maybe he was getting through to her, and if he could bring just one person into the fold he could call this venture a success. Before either of them could say anything, however, there was a commotion around them, distracting them. Everybody was pointing up at the sky, where a dragon was flying towards the island, one of the…the Spike-Tails, only this one didn’t seem to have a rider.

“Chief Astrid is back!” Magnus exclaimed in delight; then she frowned. “No…something’s wrong. Klaus, hurry up!” she cried, running back up the ramps. Bewildered, he chased after her, wondering what the problem was.

* * *

Hiccup was in the Great Hall, listening (well, pretending to listen anyway) to the villagers, when the doors suddenly burst open and Selena rushed in. *Hiccup! Toothless! Come quick – Stormfly’s back, but Astrid’s not with her!*

“What?!” Hiccup leapt from his seat and tore through the Hall, ignoring everyone’s questions. He rushed outside, Selena and Toothless on his heels, to find Stormfly flying down and Astrid nowhere in sight. His heart skipped a beat as he took the steps three at a time, rushing down to where Stormfly was coming to a haphazard landing on the grassy slope. “Stormfly! What’s going” –

*Hiccup!* she shrieked, too distressed to use his title. *Astrid – caught!*

*Caught by whom?!* Hiccup demanded, even as he stroked the dragon to calm her down. Then he caught sight of the scroll tied to her head-spike.

By this point, what seemed like all of the villagers had gathered around, and a lot of the dragons as well, muttering and restless. “Where’s the Chief?”

“What’s happened to her?”

“She must be in trouble! We need to take arms!” somebody shouted, and the cry was taken up by most of the other villagers as well.

“Calm down!” Stoick thundered. Even at the age of fifty-eight he was loud enough to effectively shut everyone up. “Hiccup, son, what’s going on?”

Hiccup had cut the scroll free and unrolled it. He read the contents and his jaw tightened in anger. *Hiccup, what is it? What happened to Astrid?* Toothless questioned, bristling, made uneasy by his other half’s tension.

Taking a deep breath, Hiccup turned and faced his father and the crowd of villagers. “Nobody panic” he ordered, “but Astrid is being held hostage.”

He probably should have known that saying ‘don’t panic’ would make them do the exact opposite. In moments everyone was in a furore, protesting and questioning and calling for blood, _very loudly._ Toothless let out a mighty roar that drowned out everyone else and shut them up even more than Stoick.

“Ah...thanks, bud” said Hiccup, rubbing his now ringing ear. “Everyone, _please,_ calm down. You all know how capable Astrid is, and that she can handle herself in dangerous situations” –

“So if she’s been captured, something terrible must have happened!”

“No! No, that’s not what I meant” Hiccup hurriedly protested. He turned to Stormfly a bit desperately and asked, “Stormfly, can you tell me anything about whoever has kidnapped Astrid?”

*Yes, Alpha-Hiccup...it’s those two humans, the short one and the hook-handed one, who tried to kidnap you all those years ago. Astrid wanted me to trust her; I think she was just playing along* Stormfly explained.

Hiccup sighed in relief, and faced the crowd once more. “Look, I know who’s captured her, and believe me, the only way that they’d be able to get the drop on Astrid is if she let them. Probably so we can teach them a lesson, if I had to guess why” he surmised before anyone could ask.

“But who _has_ captured Chief Astrid?”

“And why is she being held hostage?”

Hiccup swallowed hard. “She’s been captured – no, sorry, she’s _allowed_ herself to be captured by a pair of bounty hunters…and the truth is, they’re only holding her hostage to try and collect the bounty that Adulfr placed on me” he admitted, holding up his own ‘wanted’ poster. The muttering grew louder. He drew himself up and raised his voice. “The core riders and I are going to fly out to the Shivering Shores and rescue her. Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruff and Tuff”, he picked them out of the crowd, “Go and get any supplies you think you might need for this mission. We’re leaving as soon as possible.”

His friends went to prepare, and Stoick broke the rest of the crowd of onlookers up. Hiccup hurried into his house and grabbed his own supplies – extra cartridges for _Inferno_ , mostly Fire-Scale saliva, making a mental note to top them up, and a spare tail-fin for Toothless. When he re-emerged, Selena looked at him from where she was nuzzling Stormfly and announced, *I’m coming too.*

“You – Selena, it’ll be dangerous” Hiccup tried to protest. She squinted one eye incredulously at him, and then bared her teeth in a mock-snarl. *I’m a _dragon_ , Hiccup. I can handle a bit of danger! Ebony will be fine, your dam will take care of her, I already asked, and you need all the help you can get. Besides, Stormfly can’t go. No offence, Stormfly, but you look like your wings are about to fall off!*

The Spike-Tail panted. *She’s right…I’m sorry, Alpha-Hiccup. I want to help save Astrid, but I…I don’t know if I can fly all that way again so soon…*

“Hey, it’s alright. Just rest, Stormfly” Hiccup said kindly, kneeling by her head and stroking her. His mother came with water…she looked at him solemnly over Stormfly’s head and murmured, “Good luck, son.”

He smiled, and nodded. “Thanks, mom.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and then went to make sure the others were ready to go. They flew off, five dragons and four riders, heading east towards the Shivering Shores. Barely noticed in the crowd, Klaus watched them leave, suddenly uneasily aware of the fact that he was stranded on an island full of dragons, and the one man who could control the dragons had just flown away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Trying to add a little bit of realism by making it be lava (cooled and crushed), and not dragon manure that makes the crops grow better (as carnivores/omnivores, their faeces would be mostly fish, which isn’t actually that good for plants).
> 
> (2) Christianity has been around since the 1st century, but the conversion of Norway from Norse paganism to Christianity started in 1000 AD, and this story takes place in 1063 AD, so from the mainland and the archipelago tribes POV, it’s a relatively ‘recent’ thing.


	5. Part Five

Astrid was tied up below the deck of the bounty hunter’s ship. They’d tied up her wrists and ankles, but presumably they would untie her feet so she could walk. They had better, because there was no way she was going to let them carry her. It had been humiliating enough the first time, and she didn’t care that she’d been unconscious; she could imagine it, thank you very much.

They must have been waiting for a sign that Hiccup (and the others, she was sure) had arrived. Astrid wondered how the two muttonheads had even known about her visit to the Shivering Shores. She’d tried to ask them about it, but they wouldn’t tell her anything, although Berthel did let slip that they had a ‘man on the inside’. No matter. She would have plenty of time to interrogate them about who this man was when they were both locked up in Berk’s prison.

Now she was dozing, bored, but she jerked awake at the sound of footsteps clunking down the stairs. Berthel and Amos came down below deck. The latter informed her smugly, “Your husband is here. We saw the Night Fury shoot at us. Lit up the whole sky.”  

After a pause, Berthel added, “It missed.”

_That’s because it was a warning shot, you idiot._

He cut through the ropes around her ankles with one swipe of his right hook, and snagged the left under her arm, dragging her to her feet. They pulled her up through the hatch and then into the rowboat, leaving her sitting between them as Amos rowed and Berthel held the lantern. “You won’t get away with this” she told them, “You do know that, right? I hope for your sake you’ve gotten your affairs in order.”

“It’s your husband who’ll need to have _his_ affairs in order” Amos insisted.

_Whatever, pal. Either way, it’s your funeral._

The boat arrived at the shore, and they waded out onto the beach. Amos nocked an arrow into the crossbow – again, Astrid wondered what he planned to do against at least five dragons – whilst Berthel stood behind her and put his hook to her throat again. They waited, the surrounding area lit only by the lantern that Berthel was holding up in his other hook. Then, like shadows, two menacing forms appeared seemingly out of nowhere, leaping down from the sky. Toothless with Hiccup on his back, helmet on; and Selena. That surprised Astrid a bit; she had been expecting Stormfly.

Apparently the bounty hunters hadn’t been expecting Selena either. “Amos!” hissed Berthel, staring fearfully at the two viciously snarling dragons, “I thought he only had _one_ Night Fury!”

Amos aimed the crossbow at Toothless, who hissed at him, then at Selena, and then back at Toothless again. “Try anything and your wife dies!” he threatened, but he was clearly trying to keep his voice from shaking.

Hiccup removed his helmet and attached it to the saddle, before holding his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay. You’ve got me. I’ll come quietly, just don’t hurt Astrid, please” he begged, dismounting.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna come with us, nice and quiet like, and your dragons ain’t gonna shoot at us, and in return, we’ll let your pretty little wife go free. Understand?” Amos questioned, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Oh, I understand” he nodded, “but can I at least say goodbye to her?”

Berthel and Amos glanced at one another; then the latter grunted and jerked his head in a ‘go on then’ gesture. Berthel moved his hook from Astrid’s neck and poked her in the small of her back. She shot him a glare over her shoulder as she walked towards Hiccup. He went to meet her half-way, and Toothless’ jaws became filled with fire.

“Toothless, hold!” Hiccup ordered sharply. Toothless didn’t fire, but the plasma blast didn’t entirely fade either. He held it flickering in his jaws, ready. Hiccup and Astrid reached each other, and he placed his hands on her arms. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

“I’m fine. So…?” she trailed off questioningly. He winked at her, and then his grip tightened and he dragged her to the ground.

“NOW!”

* * *

Toothless fired the blast, aiming for the crossbow, and of course it struck true. The weapon exploded in a torrent of splinters and red hot metal, rendered useless. He and Selena leapt forwards, over Hiccup and Astrid, to pounce and bowl over the hapless, cowering would-be bounty hunters. *Nice leap* Toothless complimented even as he flashed his fangs at Amos.

*Thanks, you too* she responded, baring her teeth at Berthel. Behind them, Hiccup was helping Astrid to her feet, and then there was an explosion and a fire bloomed out on the sea in front of them. “What was that?!” Amos cried in alarm, twisting to try and look out to sea and keep an eye on the Night Fury looming over him at the same time.

“I think that was the twins blowing up your ship” Hiccup remarked airily. As he spoke, Barf&Belch came in for a landing, as did Hookfang and Meatlug. They surrounded the pair of bounty hunters, and the two Swift-Wings backed off a bit once it was clear their captives had nowhere to go.

Astrid looked up at the twins and demanded, “Please tell me you got my axe off that ship before you blew it up.”

They looked at each other, and then back at her. “We thought you had it!”

“You muttonheads!” Astrid yelled, frustrated. She lunged forwards as if she wanted to drag them off their dragon and beat them with a rock – it was a very pebbly beach – but Hiccup grabbed her and held her back. “Wait! Astrid, please, calm down. I’ll make you a new one!”

Huffing, she straightened her clothes and tersely agreed, “ _Fine_.”

All eyes turned to Amos and Berthel, who had struggled to their feet and were now holding hands – or hooks – up in surrender. “Don’t hurt us!” Amos pleaded, cowardly. Then Berthel added “It was all his idea!”

Astrid shook her head at them. “You two are bigger muttonheads than they are” she declared, jerking a thumb at the twins. Ignoring their ensuing debate over whether being less ‘muttonheady’ was a good or bad thing, she explained “I’m a warrior who’s trained in battle for decades. I could have _easily_ overpowered and disarmed you both and freed Stormfly myself, but then I realised that if I played along, I could use your own trap against you. After all, if I just took you prisoner, you’d never learn, would you?”

“Don’t tell me you thought I was actually going to come alone like your ransom note said?” Hiccup asked them incredulously. “We searched everywhere; you didn’t have an ambush planned or anything. It is literally just you two, against five dragons. Did you seriously think this plan of yours would work?”

“I didn’t” Berthel admitted dolefully.

“It would have worked!” Amos protested, “It _should_ have worked. We had your wife hostage!”

Hiccup nodded. “Yes, you did, which reminds me” – abruptly, he punched Amos full in the face, sending the man sprawling into the surf. The next thing Amos knew, the tip of a flaming sword was in his face. “That was just for kidnapping my wife” Hiccup told him, “imagine what I would have done to you if you had hurt her, or worse?!”

Snotlout interjected, “Allow me to demonstrate. Look, this is you two”; he held up a couple of straw-stuffed training dummies, and tossed them onto the beach in front of his dragon. Hookfang set them alight. “And that’s what you’d have looked like after we were through with you if you’d dared to hurt our chief.”

Fishlegs added, “And even if you had somehow gotten hold of Hiccup, we would have just rescued him off your ship. Heck, there’s no way Toothless would have let you go anywhere with him.”

“Yeah! Just like we told the last guy, you mess with one of us, you get the whole pack” Ruffnut declared. “You two really _are_ bigger muttonheads than we are.”

“But is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“It’s not important, Tuffnut” Astrid insisted, “What _is_ important is deciding what to do with these two super muttonheads” she added, folding her arms and glaring at the cowering pair.

Berthel fearfully spluttered a protest. “Y-you can’t kill us! He said you wouldn’t kill us!” he squeaked.

Hiccup’s brow furrowed. “He? Who are you talking about?”

“Apparently they’ve got a ‘man on the inside’” explained Astrid, making air quotes with her fingers. “That’s how they knew that I’d be here and not on Berk. I couldn’t get them to tell me who this person was, though.”

“Don’t tell ‘em, Berthel!”

“Alright.”

The dragons, starting with Toothless, all gathered their fires in their mouths. Amos changed his mind extremely quickly. “Alright! We’ll talk!”

“It’s Savage!”

“ _Savage?!_ ” Six disbelieving voices echoed in unison.

Snotlout demanded, “As in the Outcast, Savage? As in, Alvin’s former lackey, Savage? _That_ Savage?”

“That doesn’t make any sense” Fishlegs shook his head, “Savage has been locked up in prison for years!”

Suddenly, all the pieces slotted into place in Hiccup’s mind, and he sighed. “No, Fishlegs, it makes perfect sense. Savage is locked up on Berserker Island – the same place we sent Harald’s men. They knew about the bounty on me, which is how Savage found out, and then he somehow got word to these two. Or they knew about the bounty and asked Savage for advice. He would have known about Astrid’s meeting with Baugi because he used to be Alvin’s second-in-command, and Alvin isn’t stupid. He knew all about the different treaties and compacts between the archipelago tribes, even when his own tribe wasn’t legitimate” Hiccup explained his reasoning.

Berthel blinked, then looked over at Amos and remarked, “He’s good.”

“I still don’t get why Savage told you we wouldn’t kill you” Snotlout declared, “I mean, I understand thinking _Hiccup_ wouldn’t kill you, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us wouldn’t.”

Hiccup had already worked that out as well. “Don’t forget, Savage is locked up alongside Harald’s men. We sent them there because…because I didn’t want to put them to death. Savage already knows that I don’t like killing, so he must have convinced these guys that I would be too weak to use lethal force on them.” He retracted his sword, then reached down and hauled Amos upright by the front of his tunic.

“Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t kill for no reason, but when I _have_ a reason it’s going to be a damn good one. Every single time I have ever killed or ordered a kill, it has been because that person has hurt the people I love and only wants to hurt them more. I can only afford to give one second chance, and only if I think they deserve it. I am merciful, but I am _not_ weak. Remember that.”

With that, he shoved Amos backwards into the sand and stood over him, fists clenched, eyes burning. Gradually, he became aware that everyone was staring at him. They also looked strangely impressed.

“Whoa…angry Hiccup is epic Hiccup” Ruffnut murmured, approving.

Berthel whimpered. “So you _are_ going to kill us?!”

Hiccup sighed, his anger ebbing away. “I was just making a point. But no, I’m pretty sure you guys are too pathetic to kill.”

They both looked relieved, and also a bit insulted, or maybe confused.

“Can we at least castrate them?” Astrid demanded. The looks of relief vanished.

Hiccup was used to it; she was always in a bad mood when she returned from the trips out to the Shivering Shores. “I’m guessing Baugi was even more insufferable than usual, this time.”

“You have _no idea.”_

* * *

They told Amos and Berthel that they could either be carried in Hookfang’s talons all the way to Berk, or they could ride on Barf&Belch with the twins. It was clear from their expressions that they were imagining Hookfang dropping them into the ocean from high in the air, so they agreed to the ride.

Whilst that was being sorted out, Astrid hugged Hiccup properly like she’d wanted to do all night. “I’m really glad you’re okay” he murmured into her hair.

“Thanks for coming for me. But, where’s Stormfly?”

“She’s fine. She was just exhausted from the long flight, so Selena came instead” Hiccup explained.

*I really wanted to help; after all, you’re family, we couldn’t just leave you* Selena purred affectionately, as Astrid gave her a grateful pat.

“She’s right. Astrid, you have been there for me and Toothless since the beginning, no matter what. We’ll always be there for you too. Won’t we, bud?”

*Definitely* Toothless agreed, nuzzling Astrid on her other side. First Hiccup and then Astrid climbed into his saddle, and the dragons took off, heading for home.

On the way back, Hiccup asked “So what did Baugi say this time? Wait; he wasn’t in on this, was he?”

Astrid scoffed. “Don’t be daft; that guy couldn’t strategise his way out of a paper bag. Truth is…Hiccup, you’re really not going to like this.” She took a deep breath and revealed, “He touched me.”

“WHAT?!”

Toothless shrieked as Hiccup accidentally shifted the tail-fin’s position, and they almost fell out of the sky. *Careful!*

“Sorry, sorry!” When they were flying level again, Hiccup looked over his shoulder as much as he could and repeated, “What?! What do you mean, he touched you? Did he hurt you? I swear, if he” –

“He didn’t hurt me. Turns out giving him that wine wasn’t such a good idea; he got drunk, really fast, I thought he’d have more of a tolerance. Next thing I know he’s trying to flirt with me, terribly, and touched my breast.”

“Right, that’s it. Toothless, turn around” Hiccup instructed.

*I’m not going to do that* his other half refused. Hiccup tried to move the tail-fin, only to discover that Toothless had locked it into ‘glide’ position when they had a bit of turbulence just then. Not that he couldn’t unlock it, but he’d promised not to force Toothless to move without his consent, and this brought him back to himself. He was still fuming, though.

“Hiccup, you can’t kill him. He really _is_ too pathetic.”

“I wasn’t gonna kill him. I was just gonna cut his hands off. I’d like to see him try to touch you then!”

“Would you relax? I handled it. Besides, I never have to go back there again. I’m free!” Astrid enthused, spreading her arms wide.

“But…what about the treaty signings? You know what, next time, I’m coming with you” Hiccup insisted.

“There is no treaty. Baugi decided that his tribe can no longer be allied with Berk” Astrid revealed, grinning.

“… _Why?”_

“Long story. I don’t want to talk about it right now. Can we just enjoy the flight?” She tightened her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. “It’s been a while. I missed this. I love flying with you, but it’s not the same as flying _with_ you.”

Touched, Hiccup glanced at Astrid from the corner of his eye and smiled. He had to be the luckiest man on Midgard to have a wife like her. “Same here.”

* * *

Upon their return to Berk, there were a few more familiar faces than usual waiting for them. “Well if it isn’t the conquering heroes?” Eret grinned as they landed in the village, surrounded by cheering villagers. Astrid swung herself off of Toothless’ back and called out “Right! I’m happy to see you all too, now calm down. Get these two searched and locked in the dungeons, in separate cells” she ordered, gesturing to Amos and Berthel, both of whom looked petrified.

“Mummy!” Her beloved daughter came running as fast as her little legs could carry her. Beaming, she scooped Helena up and spun her around, making her giggle and squeal. “Hey, darling! I missed you _so much_. Have you been good?”

“Uh-huh!” Helena nodded enthusiastically. Behind them came a happy chirp, and Astrid looked over her shoulder to see – “Stormfly!” Hiccup came forward and took their daughter into his arms so she could greet her dragon, holding Stormfly’s big smooth jaw and pressing her forehead to the Spike-Tail’s beak. “I _really_ missed you. Thank you for trusting me, Stormfly.”

*I always trust you, Astrid* Stormfly chirped softly, carefully preening her braid. *I’m happy you’re safe.*

Whilst his wife and her dragon were reuniting, Hiccup greeted Eret and his crew. “When did you guys get here?” he asked.

“Just earlier today. Wasn’t expecting you to be off rescuing your fair maiden from brutish thugs, but maybe I should have” Eret teased him.

“Oh, please. You know as well as I do that Astrid could have kicked their asses in no time; she just wanted them to see how badly their plan would fail. There’s no way threatening her to get to me would have ended well for them” Hiccup responded, eyes narrowed darkly.

“Yeah, I guess this time was less of a threat than the last. Oh, speaking of that lot, get this. When we got word (1) that you’d captured your would-be abductors, I was thinking, who better to get through to them than someone who sympathised with _them_ more than with the dragons? So when we stopped off at Smoking Bay on our way here, I told Isak about it and asked if he’d come and try to talk some sense into them. He’s on Berserker Island right now.”

“Really? I’ll have to thank him” Hiccup decided. He wasn’t sure about the logic in having someone who disliked him convince people who disliked him even more to join their side, but hey, maybe Eret was on to something. Isak might make better progress than they had, at any rate.

* * *

Astrid told Hiccup and Stoick that she urgently needed to talk to them, inviting Valka and Eret but no-one else. Once the five of them were in the Great Hall, Hiccup filled his parents and Eret in on everything they’d learned from Amos and Berthel.

“I can’t believe the nerve of those two, coming after my son and daughter in law!” Stoick fumed. “I have half a mind to take that one guy’s hooks, shove ‘em through their jaws and use them as Scauldron bait!”

“You should tell them that” Astrid suggested, amused. “You might scare them more than Hiccup did. You guys should have heard his rant, it was glorious.”

All eyes turned to Hiccup, who turned pink and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. “I was very cross. Never mind that though; I’m more worried about this” he said, waving the bounty poster at them.

“I agree. Adulfr’s bounty is still on your head, and we need to” –

“Oh, not that. This doesn’t even look like me!” He scowled at the drawing on the piece of yellowed parchment. “Why can’t they get my nose right?”

Rolling her eyes, Astrid plucked it out of his hands and held it up to his face. “I actually think it’s a very good likeness” she remarked airily. He frowned at her. “Especially when you pout like that. Hiccup, the actual bounty is more important than the _artwork_.”

“Don’t worry boss” Eret teased him, “Maybe next time you can draw your own wanted picture.” (2)

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “Excuse me for trying to distract myself” he said sarcastically. “It’s just…agh! This is so _frustrating._ Why can’t Adulfr just come and kill me himself?”

A moment later he realised what he’d just said. “Err…that came out wrong.” He hastily changed the subject, and asked Astrid, “What were you going to tell us? Is it about why the Shivering Shores is no longer allied with Berk?”

“What?!” Stoick exclaimed, bushy eyebrows flying up towards his now receding hairline. “What do you mean, not allied? What happened?” he demanded.

“Chief Baugi has decided it would be in his tribe’s best interests if they were no longer allied with, in his own words, ‘dragon lovers’” Astrid explained, “but do the details really matter? The important thing is, I never have to see his stupid ugly face again!” she beamed.

Stoick’s brow furrowed. He wasn’t angry, exactly, just very concerned. “It doesn’t make any sense. We’ve been riding dragons for years and Baugi never tried to cut ties with our tribe before; why now?”

“Honestly, if you ask me, he’s overreacting. He said the traders coming to his island had fewer goods, especially weapons, and they were bringing back the goods that his tribe had been trying to trade with the mainland. Apparently the people over there…it seems because they’re Christians, they don’t want to be trading with ‘dragon loving heathens’, as it were” Astrid explained, rolling her eyes. “Baugi thinks if he cuts ties with us and any other tribe who rides dragons, his tribe will get more trade again.”

Hiccup’s brow furrowed. “Hm. Now that you mention it, I did notice that the merchants didn’t have as many goods this time around. They just said business was slow. Is that the only reason people on the mainland aren’t trading as much with us?” he wondered.

Astrid bit her lip. She knew it would be hard for him to hear, but he needed to know. “ _Actually…_ there is another reason, but you’re not gonna like it” she warned. Hiccup met her gaze and nodded for her to continue. “Baugi’s exact words were, ‘They don’t wanna trade, because they don’t want to help your husband and his dragon army’” Astrid explained, rasping out an impersonation of the Shivering Shores chieftain.

Hiccup’s expression fell; then he dragged his hands over his face. “Argh! When is this gonna end? I don’t have a dragon army! Toothless and I would never abuse our position as Alphas like that, and most of these people don’t even know that we’re the Alphas! Why are they so convinced I can control dragons?”

Eret winced. “I, uh, think I know why” he admitted. All eyes turned to him at once. Eret sucked in a breath and explained, “Okay, so it seems pretty obvious that most of these rumours about you, boss, are coming from the survivors of the war with Adulfr, a lot of whom used to be in Drago’s army. So they knew that Drago had a Bewilderbeast, as in _a dragon that controls other dragons_ , and they all saw you defeat said Bewilderbeast at the Ice Nest, and then they saw the Bewilderbeast come back. To you” he pointed at Hiccup.

“You think they’re afraid of Urchin?” asked Astrid.

“I think they’re afraid of what Hiccup could do with Urchin. A man that has a dragon like that on his side would terrify anyone…least that’s what happened with you-know-who.”

“But I haven’t – I wouldn’t – I am nothing like Drago!” Hiccup yelled, frustrated. _What do I have to do to make people see that?_ He clenched his fists, and his jaw, until Astrid stepped over and placed her hands on his shoulders, stroking his cheek. “I’m sorry, Astrid, I just…”

She nodded. “I know. It’s okay. Besides, we ought to take everything Baugi says with a huge grain of salt. Just because he heard all this from some merchant doesn’t mean it’s the whole story, or even that it’s true. Most of the people on the mainland probably don’t even believe you have a Bewilderbeast. These…trade sanctions they’re trying to put on us are more to do with, y’know, religious differences.”

Stoick interjected, saying “aye, son, she’s right. You’re not the enemy here; it’s just a clash of ideas. People can do foolish things when they’re scared.”

“None of this is your fault, Hiccup” Valka insisted, trying to comfort him. “The burden for their fear and hatred of dragons does not lie on your shoulders.”

Eret said “Don’t worry, boss. My crew and I will keep tabs on things, make sure there isn’t some nefarious scheme being cooked up by these dragon haters. Most of this is probably dragon hunters trying to make you seem worse than you are, because people making peace with dragons is bad for business. I think Astrid’s right though; it isn’t necessarily _you_ they fear and hate, it’s just dragon-kind in general.”

“Thank you for summing that up” Hiccup deadpanned.  

“We’ll find a way to deal with the trade problems” Astrid declared firmly, “and with anyone who thinks you’re a threat, but your parents are right – this _isn’t_ your fault. And you can’t expect an entire religion to change overnight.”

“Yeah, I know…”

“Well, we’re helping with that too” Eret smirked, “Spreading the word, preaching to the masses; like missionaries, only without the robes. Rest assured, boss, my crew and I will continue to spread the gospel of dragons.”

Hiccup rolled his eyes. “It’s not a gospel.”

Eret grinned, unable to resist winding him up further. “Greetings, simple peasants! We are from the Church of Dragon Lovers. Might we take a moment to tell you about our lord and saviour Hiccup Haddock, Dragon Whisperer Supreme?”

“Stop it, Eret.”

“He who tamed the noble Night Fury, he who vanquished the savage Red Death, he who has defeated heretic after heretic!”

“Seriously, knock it off.”

Astrid eyed him closely, and now her own eyes narrowed suspiciously. “I know that look, Hiccup. You didn’t seriously think you could reform the whole of Christianity, did you? Single-handed?”

“No!” he shook his head, “no, not me. Not this soon.”

She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. “Which means you _are_ trying to reform it; that’s biting off more than you can chew, even by your standards.”

“Can you blame me? I’m an optimist. Besides, I never said _I_ could reform it…that doesn’t mean minds can’t be changed. Maybe I’m not the one who’ll change them, but that doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t.”

Valka suddenly realised, “Hiccup, is this about Klaus?”

He hesitated. Astrid’s brow furrowed in puzzlement. “Klaus? Isn’t that Johann’s new cabin boy? But he’s not even here” she protested.

Hiccup winced. “Err, actually…I invited him to stay on Berk a few days. Just so he could see dragons aren’t as bad as he thought they were!” he said hastily, hands raising in surrender.

The eyebrow of doom got higher. “And…?” Astrid prompted.

“…And I was sort of hoping that if I could persuade him that dragons aren’t demons, maybe he’d persuade other Christians. I knew they’d never listen to me, but I figured they’d listen to one of their own” Hiccup admitted.

Then, in the awkward silence that followed… “You lied to me.”

They all spun around, shocked, to find the boy standing behind them, having clearly just stepped out from behind one of the carved pillars that held up the ceiling of the Great Hall. “Klaus! What – how long have-?"

“You were gonna use me!”

“No! That’s not what I - you’ve got it all wrong” – Hiccup reached out to the boy, but Klaus backed away.

“Stop it! Stop being nice! It’s all a lie. You love dragons, you’re friends with blasphemers - you’re being punished! All these bad things – that bounty, your wife being kidnapped, it’s all punishment from God because you’re nothing but a – a filthy devil worshipper!” Klaus all but screamed at him, before fleeing the Hall in tears.

“ _Klaus!_ ”

* * *

 

Klaus burst out of the Hall and scrambled down the stone steps, neither knowing nor caring where he went, but needing to get away. He barrelled straight through the village, dodging Vikings and dragons alike, until he could run no further; he had come right to the edge of the cliff. A horned shadow loomed over him – a Flaming Wyrm.

Klaus stared up at it in shock, too frightened to move. Then it moved its snake-like jutting-fanged head down towards him, and terrified, he forgot himself and stumbled back. His foot met open air, and he plummeted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) They have a system of couriers along the coast to get messages from Berk to their over-winter port. It’s not perfect, but it gets the job done. 
> 
> (2) Am I the only one who can see Hiccup actually wanting to do this?


	6. Part Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If you guys want a laugh, I recommend watching ‘The Hidden Meaning in How to Train Your Dragon – Earthling Cinema’ by Wisecrack on YouTube if you haven’t already. It’s hilarious XD
> 
> Also, fair warning - this story contains somewhat explicit references to sexual intimacy (marital and consensual only). JSYK.

Klaus screamed. His life, short as it was, flashed before his eyes as he fell down, down, down. The rock-filled waters below the cliff rushed towards him, and he was sure that he was about to meet his Maker…then suddenly, his terrifying fall was arrested as something snagged the back of his tunic and left him dangling in mid-air. Klaus felt himself being lifted up, back over the edge of the cliff and deposited carefully on the ground.

Whatever had caught him pulled away, and for a brief delirious moment, Klaus wondered if God himself had snatched him from death. When he looked up at his rescuer, however, it was the dragon from before. It had _saved his life_ , and was now looking down at him with what almost seemed like concern. “Klaus!” Hiccup cried as he and Toothless came in for a landing. “Oh, thank the moon. Are you okay?!”

Still in shock, Klaus staggered backwards – away from the cliff edge, thankfully – and fell to the grass, staring open-mouthed at the Flaming…at the Fire-Scale. He buried his head in his hands, shaking all over. Hiccup dismounted and went to check on him; Toothless turned to Brannild, who bowed respectfully and croaked _apology._ *I’m sorry, Alpha-Toothless. I didn’t mean to – I was trying to get him away from the cliff! But I scared him and he fell so I caught him…is he alright?* the drake asked, peering at Klaus.

*He’ll be fine. Thank you for saving him; next time, use your tail to nudge humans away from the edge* Toothless instructed.

*Use my tail, right…should I go?* he asked hesitantly. It almost seemed as if he didn’t want to. Brannild was quite soft-hearted, for a Fire-Scale.

Toothless sighed. *Just don’t interfere* he instructed, and the Fire-Scale obediently didn’t come any closer. Toothless padded around to sit near Hiccup, between him and the cliff edge, not too close to spook Klaus. Hiccup had been trying to talk to him, but had fallen silent. The boy was now resting his chin on his arms and his arms on his knees, staring into space. After a long and slightly awkward silence, he finally spoke. “I’m sorry for eavesdropping” he apologised, but his voice was so dull and heavy it was hard to tell if he meant it.

Hiccup accepted the apology nonetheless. “It’s our own fault…we should have done a search. I bet Astrid’s kicking herself. When did you come in? We never heard the door open” he wondered.  

Klaus winced. “I was already inside. Magnus asked me to play hide and seek, and it was her turn so I hid there, but then you all came in and I…” He trailed off, fidgeting awkwardly.

“You were too scared to try and sneak out in case you got caught, so you stayed and heard everything” Hiccup surmised. He ran a hand through his hair and sucked in a breath through his nose, then blew it out in a huff. “Klaus, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to use you…well, maybe I was, but not like that. I should have told you what I had in mind. I just didn’t want you to feel pressured into liking dragons…but I shouldn’t have expected you to be a mouthpiece for me, either. I’m sorry.” _And you call yourself the Dragon Ambassador._

He remembered Klaus’ accusing shouts in the Hall. “Do you really think I’ve been lying all this time?” he asked, unable to keep from sounding hurt.

Klaus cringed. “Not really” he admitted at last. “You’re nice, but I…I don’t want you to be. I want you to be bad, I want to hate you!” Klaus glared at Hiccup, but then he slumped, looking glummer than ever. “Then I could hate the dragons too and I wouldn’t have to feel bad. But…but then you left, to rescue your wife, and the dragons weren’t running amok or causing havoc. You weren’t around to control them, but they were still behaving. That’s when I started to realise…you _weren’t_ controlling them. That somehow, they really were tame. And that scared me” he whispered.

Hiccup listened, sympathetic. Toothless listened, dubious. *Why would tame dragons scare him?*

*I’m not sure…* Aloud, Hiccup asked Klaus, “What can I do to prove to you that I’m not lying? Please, tell me. If I can’t change your mind, I don’t know how I can change anyone else’s. I know dragons can be scary, and dangerous, and hard to understand, but there’s so much more to them than that. I’m just…so _sick_ of people thinking that we’re nothing but monsters.” (1)

A second passed before either of them realised what he’d just said. Klaus stared at him, puzzled, and Hiccup blushed, clearing his throat. “They’re, I meant. That _they’re_ nothing but monsters. Are not. I mean – you know what I mean” he grumbled. Klaus smiled a bit, which was a good sign. “Didn’t Johann tell you about me? About why I do what I do?”

Klaus’ expression was similar to that of students at the Academy when they were quizzed on a lesson that they hadn’t been paying attention to. “He said you didn’t like it when people disagreed with you about dragons. That you want everyone to love them as much as you do” the boy replied, fidgeting.

Hiccup groaned and rubbed his temple. “Oh for the love of…Johann! I need to have a long talk with that man. One where _he’s_ listening, for once. Okay, yes, I admit, it would be wonderful if everyone just decided to make peace with dragons…but I know that’s not going to happen. And I’ve learned the hard way that if I try to force it I’ll only make things worse.”

He flopped down on his back in the grass, gazing up at the clouds and the dragons flying overhead. “I should just accept that you’re probably always going to be scared of dragons” he admitted sadly, more to himself than to Klaus.

To his surprise, though, the boy answered his earlier question. “Maybe you don’t control them” he said slowly, “but you must do _something_ to them. You’re the Dragon Whisperer! You said that dragons understand us, but if that’s true, then what makes you so special?”

Hiccup’s breath caught in his throat, and he sat up to stare at Klaus. There _was_ something that set him apart from everyone else. He could answer Klaus’ question… *No* Toothless interrupted his thoughts, with the slightest hint of a warning growl. *It’s too dangerous. You know that* the dragon glared firmly.

Toothless was right; he couldn’t risk it, not after everything that had happened. “I can’t tell you” Hiccup confessed, and Klaus frowned. “Really, I can’t. I…you’re right, there is something different about me. The last time I told someone about it, enemies of mine found out and they…” he trailed off.

“I won’t tell!” Klaus insisted, “I promise. I couldn’t tell anyone about all this even if I wanted to! They’d all think I was crazy.”

“Then I won’t burden you with more secrets. It’s safer for both of us, Klaus, if you don’t know the truth. I’d hate to think someone would come after you to get to me.”

Klaus sighed. “Okay…can you really not tell me _anything?_ I just…I need to know. If you don’t control the dragons, why are you so…why do they listen to you so much?”

Hiccup smiled ruefully. “The thing is, Klaus, I’m _not_ that special. I mean, yeah, I’m the ‘Dragon Whisperer’, but that’s just because I helped end the war. That’s what I was hoping you’d see here; that anyone can befriend and train dragons. I guess they listen to me because…I try to listen to them – in a manner of speaking – y’know, mutual respect. Not to mention, I helped save them from slavery and actual mind control, twice. Long stories.”

He glanced at Klaus, who was listening attentively and hopefully. Hiccup sighed. “You’d never believe me if I did tell you, you know. It’s…complicated. Let’s just say it has something to do with Toothless and I being soulmates” Hiccup remarked, smiling fondly at the jet black dragon. Toothless crooned and padded over to nuzzle him affectionately; now that Klaus really looked, he could see feeling in the dragons’ wide-pupiled eyes, see the depths of love there.

 _Could it be true? Could they have souls after all?_ A powerful curiosity came over him, and Klaus dared to say, “Hiccup? You keep calling Toothless your soulmate, but I didn’t think dragons even had souls. I don’t understand…if he really is your soulmate, how do you know?”

Hiccup’s expression turned thoughtful. Finally he spoke. “Astrid once told me that Toothless and I found each other at a particular time for a particular reason. My life would have been so much less if I had never met him; I feel like _something_ sent us to each other, and I don’t know if it was your God or my gods or fate or destiny or just sheer dumb luck, but whatever it was, I’m grateful. I…I don’t really know how I know that Toothless is my soulmate. I can’t really explain it” Hiccup confessed thoughtfully. “I just… _know_ , deep in my heart, that he is the other half of me. Whenever I think about him, there’s this warmth in my chest…”

Klaus’ eyes widened. “Like someone’s giving you an invisible hug?”

“Yeah – yes, exactly. How did you…?” Hiccup trailed off, eyeing Klaus curiously. So was Toothless.

Klaus fidgeted and confessed, “That’s how I feel whenever I think about Jesus Christ, when I feel his presence with me.”

A look of understanding passed over Hiccup’s face, quickly followed by one of realisation. “Your religion is really important to you, isn’t it?”

Klaus wasn’t sure where this was going, but he nodded truthfully.

“That’s why it’s so hard for you to accept that dragons might not be evil” Hiccup deduced, “Cos if you did, you wouldn’t just be changing your mind…you’d be rejecting your beliefs. Disobeying your God. And I think…that might scare you more than the dragons do” he said gently.

It was almost unbelievable, how perceptive he was. “It’s not just that” Klaus blurted out, “I mean, it is, maybe, but also – the reason I’m so scared of dragons is because – because they killed my papa.” It all came out in a rush, then, the whole story. “…And the survivors said the dragons hides were covered in metal, so they couldn’t be killed, but we didn’t know who covered them and then when Johann said you led dragons and he said something about war dragons and I thought maybe” – Klaus’ ramble cut off when he noticed the horrified expression on Hiccup’s face.

“I’m sorry! I don’t really think – I just didn’t know – please don’t be mad!”

“What? No, no, I’m not mad, I just – oh, Klaus, I am so sorry” Hiccup told him earnestly. Toothless whined _sympathy_ , ear-flaps lowering. The teenage boy looked between them, bewildered. “Back in the Great Hall, you err, might have heard me say – well, shout – the name ‘Drago’” Hiccup said solemnly.

“Yes…who is he?”

Hiccup’s expression was strange; sad, and angry, and relieved all at the same time. “Drago Bludvist was a madman, without conscience or mercy. He wanted to take over the world, to conquer dragons and then use them to conquer people. He had dragons, innocent dragons who had done nothing wrong, he had them captured and forced them to obey him. He found Urchin, somehow – our Sea-Giant, I think Fishlegs mentioned him. Drago found him, as a hatchling or an egg, and tortured him into obeying Drago without question.” Klaus’ eyes went wide in alarm. “Then he used the poor Sea-Giant to control other dragons, gathering an army to him. My guess is that Drago demanded that the leaders of Borgund join with his army, or give him supplies or something, and when they refused he…”

It didn’t need to be said. “I’m sorry, Klaus. I know it won’t…that it can’t change anything, but you should know that the dragons who attacked your village were not in their right minds. They were enslaved. Like my mom says, good dragons under the control of bad people do bad things” Hiccup said solemnly. He sighed and added, “If it’s any consolation at all, Drago is dead. I…I made sure of that.”

Klaus’ mind reeled. There was nothing about Hiccup that suggested he was lying. If it were true, and the dragons who had attacked his home all those years ago were _forced_ to do it, that meant the blame for his papa’s death lay with this ‘Drago’ person…which meant his father’s murderer was dead, defeated by Hiccup himself. _All this time_ Klaus thought helplessly, _we’ve placed the blame wrongly!_

Hiccup sighed. “Drago wanted to take over the world with dragons; and now people think I want the same, but I _don’t_. I just want peace.” He stroked Toothless to comfort himself as he asked sadly, “Do you really think your God would object to that?”

“No…” Klaus admitted. Jesus had always preached a message of peace… _just like Hiccup_. At last, the pieces began to click into place. _Drago Bludvist_ must have been the one that Satan had corrupted into controlling dragons and using them to wreak havoc. If he had been defeated by Hiccup, then that could only mean...the Lord was working _through Hiccup_ to thwart Satan’s nefarious plans!

He didn’t know why Jesus would choose a non-believer to work his miracles through…but the Lord worked in mysterious ways. Who was he, Klaus, to question Him? All of these bad things that he’d assumed were a punishment from the Almighty; what if they were really the work of the Devil, trying to undermine Hiccup and thus Christ himself? It made so much more sense, Klaus realised, if the Devil was working _against_ Hiccup rather than with him.

“It’s true…” he whispered. _Dragons were made by Satan, but if Hiccup can understand them and tame them…_ “That’s why you’re the Dragon Whisperer!” Klaus told a thoroughly confused Hiccup, “You can stop them being evil!”

Toothless gave a soft moan of exasperation. *When is he going to realise that we’re not evil?* Hiccup, on the other hand, didn’t care how Klaus chose to see it. All that mattered was he understood. Hiccup stood up and helped the boy to his feet. “Klaus, do you trust me?” he asked tentatively, hopefully.

Biting his lip in trepidation, Klaus nodded. Hiccup nodded, and looked over at the bigger dragon curled up nearby. “Brannild!” he called, beckoning when the drake looked over. Brannild approached them, and Klaus stiffened. “It’s okay. He won’t hurt you. My dragons aren’t evil anymore, remember? You just have to show them you’re not afraid…and that you want to be friends.”

The massive fire coloured dragon loomed over them, and lowered his head on a serpentine neck. Klaus swallowed hard; he was trembling. _He’s not evil, he’s not evil, I’m not going against God’s will because he’s not evil…_ Klaus remembered what he’d heard about taming dragons, and reached out a shaking hand towards Brannild, looking at the dragon’s teeth instead of his eyes.

Brannild sniffed at him curiously, and let the boy’s hand rest on his muzzle. Klaus gasped, his eyes opening from their nervous squint. The dragon’s scales were warm, and rough under his hand. He remembered something about dragons liking to be scratched under the chin, and slowly reached up with his other hand. The scales under the dragons long jaw were much smoother, and when Klaus scratched him a bit, he started purring.

Amazed, the boy met the dragon’s eyes and found his pupils were rounded, and he looked happy. His fear began to ebb away a little. It was hard to see the dragon as evil when it was purring like a contented cat. Brannild flicked his long forked tongue out and licked Klaus on the cheek. The boy giggled. “Thank you” he told the dragon, and he meant it. “You saved my life.”

“Klaus, meet Brannild. Brannild, Klaus” Hiccup introduced them both, unable to keep the grin off his face. “I’m glad you’ve come around...you have, haven’t you?” Hiccup couldn’t help asking, “I mean, do you think maybe dragons aren’t so bad after all?”

Before Klaus could reply, someone close by exclaimed “Oh my gods!”

They all looked over, even the dragons, to see Astrid and Magnus standing there, the latter staring in amazement at Klaus. “You’re petting a dragon! But I thought you were scared of dragons?” she asked him, bewildered, “They were ‘made by the Devil’, you said, remember?”

He looked from her to Brannild, and back to her again. “I still believe they were made by the Devil” he confessed, “but now I believe they can become creatures of God. I…I’m not so scared of them, now. Besides, this dragon saved my life.”

“Really? How?”

“Um, I kinda fell off the cliff” he admitted; she looked shocked, and he hastily added, “but I’m okay! I’m…better than okay. Hiccup? Thank you. For helping me understand, and…for telling me what really happened to my father.”

Hiccup smiled kindly, glad that he’d given the boy some closure. “You’re welcome, Klaus. And thank _you,_ for trusting me.”

Klaus nodded, and then turned to Astrid. “I’m very sorry for eavesdropping, ma’am” he apologised politely.

Astrid was feeling magnanimous, so she let him off with a warning. “Just make sure it doesn’t happen again. You’ll get in a lot less trouble for interrupting than you will for hearing things you’re not meant to. And don’t breathe a word of anything you heard to anyone else, okay?”

“I won’t, I promise” he said dutifully, crossing his heart. Then Magnus grinned impishly and poked him in the chest. “You’re it!”

She dashed off; he gave chase, the two of them giggling, carefree. Toothless dismissed Brannild as Hiccup stepped over to Astrid and wound an arm around his waist. “So, is everything alright with you two?” she asked him.

“Yeah. We’re good. C’mon; I’m starving, and so is Toothless…”

* * *

The villagers decided that none of them could be bothered to throw a feast that night. Astrid wasn’t complaining; she arranged for Helena and Ebony to have a sleepover at her parent’s house. She had _plans._ When Hiccup turned around from taking off Toothless’ saddle and found her sans armour, lounging on the bed with a sultry gleam in her eyes and a smirk playing on her lips, he froze.

Grinning in a way that ought to have been outlawed, she rose up off the bed and sashayed over to him, keeping her shoulders back to show off her breasts. Then he remembered what that creep had done and felt a sudden, burning possessiveness take over him. He met her halfway and captured her lips with his; she grabbed his hips and pulled herself against him; he tangled his hand in her hair, deepening the kiss.

Toothless stared at them kissing and touching each other, and groaned. *Come on, Selena, let’s get out of here* he warned her when she came to his shoulder, peering curiously at the snogging humans.

*Why, what’s wrong?*

Rolling his eyes, Toothless jerked his head at the married couple and replied, *Hiccup and Astrid are going to rut.*

Hiccup heard him, and sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t call it that” he complained.

*But that is what you’re doing.*

“Toothless” chided Astrid, “It’s called making love. And Hiccup is going to _worship_ me.” (2)

“I am?” She gave him a look. “I mean yes, I am. Y’know, you really need to get your priorities straight” he told Toothless. “Before Astrid and I got married, you kept asking me when I was gonna mate with her, and now that we _are_ mates you complain about it!”

Toothless grumbled and looked away, which meant he knew Hiccup was right but didn’t want to admit it.

*What’s so bad about them mating?* asked Selena, *It is the season for it, after all.* This was true, in a sense; the mating season for dragons was typically in spring, especially this far north. After the long dark winters, all the sunshine and fresh air and freedom tended to make them all a little…frisky (3).

*Humans don’t have mating seasons* Toothless told her, *They just get urges all the time, it’s a wonder they ever get anything done.*

“You know, I’m starting to think you’re just jealous” remarked Hiccup.

*Of who? Astrid?*

“ _Eww_! No, of me, ya dolt. I clearly have a better sex life than you” he smirked.

Toothless calmly retorted, *Well, mine is bigger than yours, so there.*

Astrid snickered; Hiccup groaned; Selena cocked her head and warbled curiously, *What _is_ it with drakes and comparing that sort of thing?*

“It’s a guy thing; and err, I don’t mean to be rude but you two are kind of _interrupting…_ ”

“Yeah, right” Astrid caught her breath from her giggling fit, “sorry Toothless, Selena, but you’re in the way of my plans to have Hiccup ravish me. You two are mates; we’ll make love, you guys go _out there_ and make love, and we’ll all have breakfast together, okay? Okay.” She all but pushed the two dragons out of the hatch, shut it behind her and turned back to her husband. “First things first, you are wearing _far_ too many clothes…”

* * *

Toothless’ ear-flaps flicked irritably, and he snorted. _Darn humans and their insatiable urges…_ *What shall we do now?* he asked Selena, without looking around. Then he felt a nip on his flank and jumped, twisting round to stare at her. Selena purred slyly and prowled forwards, brushing against him, and licked his neck. Toothless stiffened, ear-flaps pinning back. *What are…what are you doing?* he asked, trying to hide his nervous whine in a curious croon.

*What does it look like?* she asked, coiling around him so her hindquarters were against his chest, and giving him another nip before leaping away, brushing her tail-fins under his jaw. Teasing, flirting…almost as if she…but it couldn’t be?

*You want to…right now?! Selena, our pack’s mating season isn’t for another two years!* Toothless protested, backing away as she prowled towards him, purring, eyes hooded.

*True…but I’m not from this pack, am I?*

No, she wasn’t, and if the Myrkr pack had a different mating season then they were in trouble. If they mated they’d have a kit and Ebony was still a hatchling, he’d thought they’d have a chance to raise her for a bit longer before having another one… *Selena, I don’t think we should…*

*We should* she insisted, *because I’m feeling _tense_ , and I bet you must be feeling very…very…*

Sensing the cliff behind him, Toothless stopped, hunched into a wary crouch. Selena was almost nose-to-nose with him. *Very what?*

His mate pressed their muzzles together. *Very…stupid* she replied, purring _amusement_ , mouth stretched into a gummy smile. Toothless squeaked in bewilderment. *Huh?*

Promptly, Selena collapsed to the ground laughing, and he realised it had all been a joke. *Very funny* he grumbled, tail lashing irritably as she rolled on her back, pawing at the air and houghing with laughter.

*I’m sorry!* she crowed, tongue lolling, *I couldn’t resist! The look on your face!*

Toothless glared at her through narrowed eyes and snorted _disdain._ Then he looked away and twisted to nibble an itch on his shoulder, stubbornly ignoring Selena. She caught her breath and rolled onto her belly, gazing up at her mate and purring. His ear-flaps twitched. He fidgeted. She crooned. He glanced at her, met her beautiful sapphire blue eyes. Selena raised her head. Toothless sighed and nuzzled her. *Okay. I guess it was a pretty good prank* he admitted at last.

Selena purred again and licked him. Then she walked past him to the cliff face and looked over her shoulder at Toothless. *Fly with me* she invited, and leaped. Toothless checked his tail-fin was locked properly, and then he followed her.

They flew over the ocean and the mountain and the village, chasing each other through the sky. Selena could move more easily than Toothless; she twirled around him and he watched her enviously. Berk was peaceful; most dragons were curled up in their nests, and the few awake didn’t see the Swift-Wings, camouflaged against the night as they were.

At last they came to rest in the cove, landing on the grass in the shadow of the biggest tree. They would sleep here for the night. Ebony was being taken care of by Astrid’s dam, someone Selena trusted, so all was well there. Toothless knew that if Hiccup was in distress, he’d sense it, even with their bond muted. The pair curled up together and soon, were fast asleep.

* * *

Toothless woke up early the next morning, when dew was still scattered over the grass. He gave a tongue-curling yawn and glanced down at Selena, starting a bit when he saw her eyes were open. *Morning, Selena* he greeted.

She blinked and looked up at him. *Good morning* she chirped, stretching luxuriously and rolling onto her side. *Did you sleep well?*

*Yes…did you?*

*Yes, thank you* she purred contentedly. They stretched and lounged for a while before Selena heaved herself to her feet, padding over to the lake for a drink. Toothless followed her. He drank his fill, and then he reared up and pounced at the water beside Selena, soaking her. *That was for all the teasing last night* he told her when she shrieked and hissed at him. Selena swatted water at him with her tail and chased him through the shallows, both of them warbling _joy._

As she groomed herself after the splash fight, Selena asked Toothless, *You’re not really bothered that Hiccup is mated to Astrid, are you?*

*Not really* he answered, *I promised to share. Hiccup is my other half, so I want him to be happy…but he’s also my little brother, so I have to tease him as much as possible. That’s the rule* Toothless said knowledgeably.

Selena laughed. *I know what you mean! I teased Luna all the time back home. I used to steal her fish, she _hated_ it.* Selena gave a wistful sigh, reminiscing.

*Are you alright?* asked Toothless, nuzzling her concernedly. She nuzzled him back and replied *I’m fine. I just…I love living on Berk, you know, but I suppose I’ve been feeling a bit homesick, that’s all* she confessed.

*You miss your dam and sister* Toothless realised. It had been a while since she’d seen them, now that he thought about it. Selena had been so busy raising Ebony, watching over her…over _their_ offspring whilst he was off with Hiccup. The drake squirmed, guilt coiling like eels in his gut. *You should go see them.*

Selena stared at him in surprise. *What about Ebony?* she asked worriedly. Her little kit was still so small, and needed protecting; this Selena felt instinctively. Toothless nuzzled her reassuringly and crooned *She’ll be fine. Hiccup and I will be here, and Stormfly, and Valka, and Astrid. There are plenty of us who’ll take care of her. Meatlug definitely will, she loves hatchlings. Besides, you haven’t seen Phoebe or Luna for months. They must miss you a lot, too.*

*You’re right* she sighed, *I’ll fly home and see them. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to persuade Shadow to come visit you and Hiccup.* Selena climbed to her feet and spread her wings. *First of all, though, I’m starving. Let’s go fishing!* she crowed, giving him a gummy smile before leaping into the air.

When at last they returned to their wood-cave, Selena explained that she’d decided to fly to her nest and visit her mother and sister for a while. Not immediately, of course, but…soon. Hiccup and Astrid were very supportive, naturally, and promised to take good care of Ebony whilst she was gone.

* * *

Later that morning, the council gathered in the Great Hall. “Order! We need to figure out what to do about the bounty that’s been placed on Hiccup” – Astrid declared, only to be interrupted by – who else? – the twins.

“Way ahead of you, Astrid” said Ruffnut, “Yesterday my fraternal amigo and I went to interrogate the prisoners and find out what they knew…uh, but we didn’t find out much more than they’d already said.”

“Yeah, I swear Astrid, we did everything we could but they just wouldn’t crack.”

“They _would_ have cracked if you had just let me interrogate them properly! We agreed beforehand that _I’d_ be the Bad Viking!”

“I’m a better Bad Viking!”

“You’re _always_ Bad Viking. You never let me be Bad Viking!”

Astrid pinched the bridge of her nose. “Would you two please discuss that after the meeting? If I were in a worse mood, I’d throw you out. Okay, let’s go over what we know. Amos and Berthel said that Savage told them about my visit to the Shivering Shores, so we can assume the flip side of that was they agreed to bust Savage out of Berserker prison.”

Snotlout curled his lip derisively. “Savage must be _desperate_ ” he said, scornful, “If he asked for help from those two. Nah, I reckon they just promised to give him some of the silver from the bounty. That’d be more use than they would.”

“That’s another possibility” Astrid acknowledged, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, Snotlout, but I’m putting you in charge of interrogating the prisoners. You’re not to torture them, though” she warned him, with a glare promising retribution.

“…Question. Does forcing them to listen to Tuffnut singing ‘Hooligan tribe won’t you come out tonight’ over and over again count as torture?”

Astrid considered it. “I’ll make an exception for that” she nodded, “I guess it’s fine so long as they’re not physically harmed.”

“Are you kidding? Their ears are gonna bleed.”

Rolling her eyes, Astrid went on, “Speaking of Savage, I need someone to fly out to Berserker Island and warn Dagur about him.”

“I’ll go!” Fishlegs exclaimed, as soon as the words left her mouth. Blushing, he cleared his throat and added more calmly, “I mean, uh, I’d be happy to volunteer, Astrid. Oh, but there’s Aegir” he fretted, “I hope my mom can look after him at such short notice, or maybe Skulder…”

Hiccup reassured him, “We’ll take care of Aegir, Fishlegs. Oh, but when you go, can you do me a favour and take a message to Isak? I want to thank him for trying to help” he explained.

“Sure thing, Hiccup.”

Astrid felt the conversation was getting off topic again. “We need to figure out how to deter any more bounty hunters from coming after Hiccup” she insisted, “Because if Amos and Berthel were willing to try and capture me to get to him, then who knows what craftier and even more immoral people would do.”

Tuffnut suggested, “We could get the two we captured to spread the word that H is off limits, or there’ll be a bounty hunter barbecue.” He mimed someone being burned alive, clawing at the air with his mouth agape in a silent scream.

“But there’d be nothing to stop them just coming back with a better plan and trying again” Fishlegs protested. He turned to Astrid and proposed, “What if we put out our own bounty? Not a real one, I mean; just, to tell them that we’ll pay them to leave Hiccup alone.”

Astrid replied, “It’s a nice thought, Fishlegs, but I don’t want to give any of Berk’s gold to these bastards. We only made that mistake once.”

At last Snotlout announced, “You guys are all missing the obvious solution. Hey, Hiccup, do you have the wanted poster on you?”

“It’s here” said Astrid, fishing it out of her pocket and handing it to him. Snotlout unfolded it and gave a satisfied nod. “Just as I thought. This says Adulfr wants you alive. He wants to kill you himself, he wants to make you _suffer_.”

“I kind of already figured that, thanks” Hiccup deadpanned. “Snotlout, what are you getting at?”

“It’s simple. Adulfr wants to kill you, so clearly the only thing to do is to kill him first.” Snotlout leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, a smug smirk on his face.

Astrid shook her head. “I really wish it _were_ that simple, Snotlout.”

He frowned. “What’s not simple about it? Adulfr wants to kill Hiccup, so we off him before he gets the chance. Just send a message to whoever’s in charge of his tribe now and tell ‘em to put the asshole to death. He deserves it anyway, after everything he did” Snotlout protested.

“What would you say if someone demanded that we execute Stoick? Or me?” Astrid demanded, quickly adding “That was rhetorical” when he made to answer. “Snotlout, I know what you’re saying, and I’m not saying this because I want to show mercy to Adulfr. However, even though he’s been deposed, he was the chief of the Wolf Fang tribe. He’s a political prisoner, not just some common criminal. It’s the same reason that we imprisoned Dagur on Outcast Island instead of executing him” she explained.

Hiccup put in, “And if there are wanted posters going around, then Adulfr’s death wouldn’t keep these people from finding them and coming after me anyway. Not that they’d get very far, but I’d rather not have to worry about being carted off in chains to die. It’s very inconvenient.”

Snotlout scowled. “Then we need to make an example of those morons! You know they only tried this cos they knew you’d go easy on ‘em. You’ve gone soft. What am I saying? You were always soft. And I notice you’re not exactly brimming with ideas to save your own sorry ass.”

Before Hiccup could protest, Ruffnut groaned in frustration. “This sucks! It’s a shame you can’t just do what you did with Hauke, and come back to life.”

“Tell me about it” grumbled Tuffnut, “why couldn’t the heart bind have made him immortal?”

Hiccup was about to protest that he hadn’t ‘come back to life’, but then an epiphany struck him. “Wait a minute! What did you just say?”

“Why couldn’t the heart” –

“No, no, not that. Ruff, you said ‘come back to life’. You know, I think you guys might be onto something!”

“We are?!”

“Oh yes you are! Yes, coming back to life is exactly what I need to do.”

“Whoa, are you saying the heart bind really _did_ make you immortal?”

“What? No! But we need to stop all of these bounty hunters coming after me, and the best way to do that is to convince them there’s no bounty to collect – or rather, nobody to collect the bounty on.”

“What are you saying, Hiccup?” Astrid demanded.

He looked at her solemnly and announced, “I need to fake my own death.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Little bit of a Freudian slip there. I like to think that Hiccup feels so accepted by the dragons he sometimes accidentally says or thinks of them as if he is one of them.
> 
> (2) It’s not historically accurate but let’s just pretend they have some contraceptive herb or something. They’re not supposed to have another kid yet.
> 
> (3) Real world reptiles in cooler climes go through a process called ‘brumation’ (the reptilian equivalent of hibernation), which does affect their reproductive cycles, a fact I decided to appropriate for dragons.


	7. Part Seven

The way Hiccup saw it, faking his own death was the perfect idea. Nobody would try to collect a bounty on the head of a dead man; all he had to do was lay low for a while afterwards, until everything had blown over.

His friends apparently didn’t see it that way. “You want to _what_?” Astrid demanded, staring at him like he’d lost his mind. “Have you gone crazy?!”

“Whoa” exclaimed Ruffnut, “Did we just give Hiccup the idea to commit fake suicide?” she asked nobody in particular.

Tuffnut answered her anyway. “No, you did, which means his fake death will be on your head. I hope you’re happy, fake murderer!”

“Guys!” Hiccup cut in, before their bickering could get out of hand. “I’m serious. I need to fake my own death; it’s the only sure-fire way to get these bounty hunters off my back. I’ll just not draw attention to myself for a while, until everyone’s forgotten about this whole mess” he told them, hoping they would all see the sense.

“Isn’t it gonna be super boring, being in hiding all that time?” wondered Ruffnut.

“Yeah, cos people aren’t gonna forget about you anytime soon, H. You could be laying low for the rest of your life, which in your case is a really long time” Tuffnut pointed out.

Hiccup shrugged. “I know it’ll be inconvenient, but at least I won’t have to worry about anyone coming after me. Besides, I wouldn’t be in hiding for the rest of _my_ life; just for the rest of theirs.”

Astrid folded her arms and frowned. It was never a good sign when she looked at him like that. “One, you don’t know that for sure, and two, that’s not funny. How were you planning to fake your own death, exactly?”

He winced. That part, admittedly, he hadn’t entirely figured out yet. “I was sort of…planning to use my cut of Eret’s haul to bribe Amos and Berthel into spreading the word that they’d killed me” he explained in a rush.

Snotlout protested, “You know we can’t trust those guys! I can’t believe you want to let them go. As soon as we do, they’ll go right back to whatever scummy bounty hunter things they do, probably go and bust Savage out of jail and help him start a coup, or something. You can give them all the gold you want, Hiccup, it’s not going to keep them from turning around and stabbing you in the back – uh, metaphorically speaking. That _is_ a metaphor, right Fishlegs?”

“Yeah, it is…and uh, believe it or not, I think Snotlout has a point. We can’t trust those two to do as we say. For all we know, they’ll just make things worse. Besides, what about our allies?” he asked Hiccup, “Dagur and Heather, Alvin and Mogadon, Ragnar and Ormar and Isak… are you just going to let them all think you’re dead?”

Hiccup looked uncomfortable. “I’ll…well, we might have to let the chieftains of the tribes we’re allied to in on the secret, but most people…yeah, they’d have to believe I was gone for this to work. I don’t want to have to make them think I’m dead, but I don’t have a choice.”

Astrid interjected with another objection. “If word gets out that you, the Dragon Whisperer himself, has ‘died’, then our enemies might catch wind of it and decide to attack when Berk is vulnerable.”

“…But it _isn’t_ vulnerable. We’ve got hundreds of dragons – heck, we’ve got a Sea-Giant on our side! Even if I was really gone, Berk would be defended” Hiccup insisted, before adding “And I won’t be gone! I’m talking about making them _think_ I’m dead, not actually getting killed.”

“Aren’t you worried that they’ll find out it was all faked?”

“It might not be such a bad thing” he shrugged, “people already think I’m cursed, if they think I’ve come back from the dead then they’re probably gonna think I’m a draugr (1) and be too scared to come after me” Hiccup reasoned.

“I thought you _were_ a draugr” Tuffnut declared bluntly.

“Yeah! Isn’t that what the heart bind did?” Ruffnut questioned.

Hiccup sighed. “Okay, first, coming back to life isn’t the same as being undead. Second, I never died! The heart bind didn’t bring me back to life, and it definitely didn’t make me a draugr. You guys, draugrs are basically corpses. Do I look like a corpse to you?” he asked, feeling somewhat offended.

“Well, I wasn’t gonna say anything, but now that you mention it…”

“On second thoughts, Tuffnut, don’t answer that.”

Fishlegs raised a hand timidly as if he were in school. “Um, I don’t think making people think you’re a draugr is such a good idea” he told Hiccup, “I’m pretty sure draugrs can still be killed. You don’t want anyone trying to behead you, right?” he asked worriedly.

Rolling his eyes, Hiccup sighed in exasperation. “Oh for Moon’s sake, I was _joking._ There are no such thing as draugrs!” he declared, much to the twin’s disappointment. “And if you’re trying to talk me out of faking my own death, then you’re not doing a very good job. You’re all talking as if I’m committing suicide. Toothless? Back me up on this, bud” Hiccup insisted, twisting to look at the dragon sitting close behind him.

Toothless had been letting the humans talk, but now with their eyes upon him he spoke. *I don’t know if this will work, or even how it can…but I trust you* he crooned to Hiccup, *If you can really pull this crazy plan off, I’m with you.*

Hiccup smiled fondly. “Thanks, bud. Toothless is in” he announced to the others, before pleading, “Please, guys. I can’t do this without you. Either way, I’m a dead man walking, so what do we have to lose?”

There was so much conviction in his voice that Astrid couldn’t help but feel…proud. The twins – well, Ruffnut – were the first to declare “Well, hey, if we gave you the idea to commit fake suicide, we oughta help you do it, right? Count us in.” Tuffnut gave him a double thumbs-up.

Snotlout shrugged, feigning indifference, and remarked “I guess we don’t have any better ideas; so yeah, I’m in.”

“It does seem to be the best plan we have” Fishlegs conceded. “I have no idea how this is going to work, but I’ll help however I can. I’m in.”

Only Astrid remained. “This has got to be the craziest plan you have ever come up with – so far” she told her husband, “but I admit there’s a chance it could work. I _will_ make sure you don’t draw attention to yourself, because honestly, you’re not very subtle. So, what do we need to do first?” she asked.

Hiccup beamed at them all. “You guys are the best. Okay, so the first thing we need to figure out is how to get as many of these bounty hunters as possible into one place…”

* * *

Planning his own death, Hiccup was beginning to realise, was more complicated than it seemed. He and his friends talked for hours, suggesting and shooting down and struggling for ideas. Clearly whatever they did would be seen by a lot of the bounty hunters as a trap, so they could only hope that enough took the bait to spread the news of Hiccup’s apparent demise.

That raised another issue; how many people should be let in on the plan? Fishlegs argued that the more people who knew, the more chances there were of someone inadvertently revealing the secret. In response, Hiccup pointed out that most people would know he was still alive (he could hardly become a hermit, after all); if they didn’t know he was supposed to be ‘playing dead’, they would speak of him as normal, and destroy the illusion anyway.

In the end they decided that most people on Berk and other islands wouldn’t be told about the plan, but encouraged not to mention Hiccup to outsiders since he was trying to lay low. “‘Trying’ being the key word here” Astrid said wryly.

“What if we spread the word that you and Toothless go to Dragon Island alone a lot?” Fishlegs proposed. “It’s remote, there are no witnesses – um, human ones, anyway - maybe that would lure them in?”

“Maybe” Hiccup conceded, “unless they think I’m going to call on the dragons to help. Although the hunters might just decide to risk their fire-breathing wrath, in which case I’ll just get the dragons to show them why that’s a really stupid idea.”

The twins well of insight had apparently dried up. They were holding a discussion between themselves about how Hiccup could possibly fake his own death, but their ideas were, well…

“Eureka! I’ve got it! A _hanging!_ A hanging is a bloodless death; all Hiccup has to do is fake hang himself with a fake rope from a fake tree!”

“Nay, sister! Everyone knows you can see right through a fake hanging. Never mind _my_ reeker, you are _clearly_ talking out of yours! Err, just to be clear, when you say ‘your reeker’, are you talking about my ass, or yours?”

“Neither, you moron! I didn’t say ‘your reeker’, I said ‘Eureka!’ It means ‘I have found it’. It’s Greek. Skulder told me about it.”

“Oh…wait, what have you found? Whatever it is, I want it! We’re twins, we’re supposed to share!”

Hiccup buried his head in his hands. “You know when I said you guys were the best? I may need to amend that statement...”

“Guys, we’re trying to figure out how to make the bounty hunters think Hiccup is dead, not actually kill him” Astrid reminded them, exasperated. Her good mood from the night before was slowly but surely fading.

“I think we’re looking at this the wrong way” Fishlegs decided. “I mean, do the bounty hunters really need to see your body? Maybe we could just tear up some of your spare clothes and cover them with blood – not your blood, obviously, someone else’s. No! I mean, not someone – something, a boar or something, and err, make it look like you were, um, eaten?”

“Hey, yeah!” Snotlout perked up, “That could work! You remember when Tuffnut faked being eaten by a Changewing to prank us all for Loki Day that one time?” he asked, grinning at the memory (2).

Hiccup considered it. “You might be onto something, Fishlegs…but then, they might catch on that it’s fake. Anyone can tear up clothes and stain them with blood, after all. You’re right, it would be a lot simpler if they didn’t find a body, but then the illusion wouldn’t hold for very long.”

“I think you’re giving these guys too much credit” Snotlout said dismissively. “What I wanna know is, what is _he_ gonna do?” He jabbed a finger at Toothless over Hiccup’s shoulder. “At least we’re trying to come up with ideas. You said he’s on board, no surprise there, but is he, y’know, trying to help?”

Hiccup gave Snotlout a narrowed-eyed glare, as did Toothless. “I’m just saying” he said defensively, holding his hands up.

“He is going to help. When I get ‘killed’, in front of everyone” Hiccup explained, making air-quotes, “Toothless is gonna leap out of hiding with the rest of you and guard me; just to make sure they don’t try to stab me, or something, to check that I’m really dead. As for how we’re gonna pull this off…I dunno, bud, you got any ideas?”

Toothless shook his head, whining _apology_. “Well, that’s useful” Snotlout rolled his eyes. The dragon growled at him. “Hookfang, flame up!” His own bigger, better dragon reared and set himself alight, spreading his wings wide in solidarity. His rider smirked until Toothless hissed in contempt, pupils slit, and split his spine-fins, glowing vividly with Fury’s Fire. He roared, ear-flaps perked and the nubs on the back of his skull vibrating (3). Whatever he said had Hookfang extinguishing his flames and all but prostrating himself before the furious Swift-Wing.

“That’s enough, both of you” Hiccup ordered, stern but calm. Much to everyone’s relief, Toothless’ pupils widened and his glow faded; Hookfang uncurled from his submissive cower, preening his scales to cover for any embarrassment he felt. “It’s not a good idea to make your dragon challenge the Alphas, Snotlout” Hiccup remarked mildly. He turned away before the other man could protest and scratched Toothless under the chin. “It’s okay, bud. Don’t listen to Snotlout, he’s just cranky cos he can’t get laid.”

“Why you-!” 

“That’s enough!” Astrid snapped, glaring at them both. “Gods, just once I’d like to have a council meeting where you two don’t antagonise each other. You’re both almost thirty, act your ages.”

“Sorry, Astrid.”

“Yeah, sorry Chief.”

She kept glaring at them pointedly until they apologised to each other. Once that was taken care of, Astrid declared “We’re not getting anywhere with this. Hiccup, are you sure the bounty hunters absolutely _have_ to see your body? Fishlegs is right; it would be a lot easier, not to mention safer, if you weren’t anywhere near these people at all.”

*I agree* Toothless said bluntly. Without thinking, Hiccup added “Me too – I mean, yeah, you’re right” he corrected hastily. “But like I said, anyone can fake a death that way. I’d rather be absolutely sure they think I’m dead rather than getting suspicious and coming back to find out for sure” he explained.

“Well, if we’re all agreed that we’re gonna lure them to Dragon Island, then I think we need to see if anyone else knows anything about this. I’ll ask Eret, Hiccup, you ask your folks, Snotlout, ask Gobber, Fishlegs, you ask Skulder, Ruff and Tuff…you know what, why don’t you go back to the jail and see if you can get any more information out of Amos and Berthel” Astrid instructed.

“You got it, Chief!”

“But don’t torture them.”

“Nuts."

“And don’t tell anyone about the plan! That goes for all of you. Try to be subtle, guys; we’ll meet back here. If nobody has any better ideas, we’re going with Fishlegs’ plan” Astrid said decisively. Fishlegs puffed up a bit with pride. Everyone else nodded in agreement and understanding. “Very well; dismissed.”

* * *

“Uh, Mom, Dad? I know this is kind of a weird question, but if you wanted people to think you’d disappeared or, y’know, died or something…what would you do?”

“Hey, Gobber – yeah, I know I’m late, I was at a council meeting, cut me some slack! Uh, anyway, I wanna ask you something. You had a lot of crazy adventures when you were my age, right? None of them would have happened to involve faking your own death, would they?”

“Skulder, if you don’t mind me asking, is there anything in your notes about something that could…make somebody look like they’ve died, even if they haven’t?”

All of these questions were met with the same response. “Why do you want to know?” And all gave the same answer. “…Just wondering!”

When they gathered again, nobody had any new solutions…except for Snotlout. “Gobber said that Gothi knew just what we needed” he explained, “So I went to fetch the old bone-bag – ow!” He winced when Gothi whacked him in the head with her staff and scowled at him.

“You were pretty much asking for that, Snotlout” Astrid told him as she respectfully helped Gothi off of Hookfang’s saddle. “She’s taken a vow of silence; she needs some way to release her frustrations.”

Gothi scribbled symbols in the dirt, and Fishlegs translated. “She says there’s a potion she can make…called the Sleeping Death” he interpreted. “It puts you in a coma so deep you appear to be dead, even your chest doesn’t rise and fall. She just needs us to fetch a few ingredients.” Gothi indicated which ones she needed, including a herb called stillwort (4), which was the main ingredient.

“She’ll need to weigh you” Fishlegs reported to Hiccup, “To make sure you get the right dose. Too little, and the potion won’t work; too much, and…and you might not wake up” he admitted, glancing down at Gothi as if hoping he’d misunderstood. She gave a solemn nod.

“Well then” Hiccup said confidently, “I guess we’re making Sleeping Death.”

“And just _why_ would you be making something like that?”

Everyone jumped and whirled around to find Stoick and Valka standing there. _Busted._ “Did you follow me?” Hiccup asked, indignant, before turning to Toothless and demanding “Did you know they were following us?...What do you mean, ‘maybe’?”

“We’re sorry, Hiccup” Valka apologised, “Your father and I were just worried about you.”

“Why in the name of Odin are you lot going around asking about ways to fake someone’s death?” Stoick questioned, frowning sternly at them all.

The riders glanced at each other uncomfortably – even now, Stoick the Vast had a way of making them all feel like teenagers. Then Hiccup stepped forwards and explained, “It was my idea, dad. You know there are bounty hunters after me, and I don’t want to spend all this time looking over my shoulder and suspecting everyone I meet…so I’m going to…use the Sleeping Death potion to…fakemyowndeath” he finished in a rush.

His parents stared at him; his mother looked worried, and his father looked disapproving. “Oh, please don’t look at me like that, dad” he winced. “I’m a grown man, I can make my own decisions and I can pretend to die if I want to!….Yeah, that didn’t come out right” he admitted.

The moment held a while longer…then Stoick sighed deeply and rubbed his brow. “Son, you are far too headstrong for your own good” he complained, adding in an aside to Valka, “He gets it from you, you know.”

“I’m pretty sure he gets it from you” she retorted, “and Stoick…I can’t believe I’m saying this, but maybe Hiccup is right. No-one in their right mind would try to collect a bounty on a corpse – oh, no offence dear” she added hastily to Hiccup, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s okay, and thank you! That’s just what I said” he told her, grateful that she understood. He squared his shoulders and met his father’s eyes. “I know this is risky, but I have to do _something_ , because when these people go after the ones I love to get to me, that is where I draw the line. You’re not changing my mind about this.”

To his surprise, his father didn’t seem angry at being challenged. Instead, Stoick looked proud. “I’d expect nothing less. So, what’s the plan?” he questioned.

They told him what they’d come up with so far – it was a work in progress, they said. Then Hiccup looked down at Gothi and told her, “Toothless is wondering if this potion will affect him…y’know, cos we’re heart bound. Will it make him fall asleep too?” he inquired on his dragon’s behalf.

Gothi looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then shook her head. “Aye, it didn’t do anything t’him the last time” Stoick agreed, before adding “course, you and he weren’t heart bound back then…” He realised everyone was staring at him and paused. “Was it something I said?”

“Last time?” Hiccup repeated, “What do you mean, last time? Have I…have I had this potion before?” he questioned, looking between his father and Gothi. The latter looked almost guilty as she nodded, _yes._

Stoick, for his part, looked rather sheepish as well. “I s’pose we forgot to mention it…we used to use that potion a lot more often, back in the war. T’was th’ only way ta keep victims unconscious when we were, y’know…” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “…Amputating.”

Hiccup glanced down at his prosthetic, realising what his dad was saying. “Does that mean I’ll be passed out for two weeks again?”

“Nah; that coma had nothin’ t’ do with th’ Sleeping Death potion” Stoick explained, “You’d be out for a couple of hours, at most, and Toothless’ll probably stay awake. I mean, the heart bind doesn’t make you both fall asleep at the same time, does it?”

Hiccup shook his head, and Toothless breathed a sigh of relief. At least he would be awake to protect his human when Hiccup tried out his crazy plan. He just hoped all these bounty hunters would get the hint.

* * *

There were a few loose ends to tie up before the plan could be put into action. They let Eret and his crew in on it, and put them in charge of keeping an eye on Amos and Berthel, whom they needed to help convince the other bounty hunters to take the bait. The cowardly pair were forbidden on pain of Astrid’s wrath to tell anyone about the plan, or that Hiccup was alive afterwards.

 Hiccup wrote out a short letter for Fishlegs to give to Isak when he visited Berserker Island. It read ‘ _Dear Isak, I hope you’re well. When Eret told me you had agreed to try and talk down the bounty hunters that Dagur has imprisoned, I was surprised, but I’m very grateful. I wish you luck; I don’t envy you. Don’t worry if you can’t get through to them – people can be stubborn about this sort of thing. I appreciate your effort all the same. Yours, Hiccup._ ’

When they had first become Alphas, Toothless-Hiccup made a dragon from both Outcast and Dragon Island their betas for those islands; Liekki, and Thornado. They flew out to explain to the Fire-Scale and Bellower that they wouldn’t be able to come there often, so the betas would have to send dragons to them on Berk and let them know how things were getting on.

Stoick insisted on coming with them. He said it was to keep an eye on them, but Hiccup suspected he just wanted any excuse to see his old friend and former dragon again. It wasn’t even like he _needed_ a reason to visit Thornado nowadays – he was retired!

Selena headed back to her home nest that night, after lots of goodbye nuzzles and promises to not be gone very long. It was harder than she’d expected to leave her little hatchling, especially when Ebony mewled in distress, and Selena had a feeling she’d be heading back to Berk mere days after getting home. In fact…part of her wondered which nest _was_ home?

Trader Johann returned to Berk the next day, to complain about the boy who had accompanied him (or rather, about the boy’s mischievous dragon) and welcome Klaus back on board his ship. “I did miss your company, master Klaus, make no mistake about that!” he assured the boy, clapping him on the shoulder with a hearty grin behind his bushy brown moustache.

Hiccup, Astrid and Magnus came down to the docks to see Klaus off. The adults made it very clear that Johann was _not_ to mention Hiccup to anyone – “Seriously, Johann, just this once, keep your mouth shut” – and to keep his ears open for any word that the Knights of St George, or Adulfr, or any of the dragon riders enemies were planning to move against them.

“Goodbye, Hiccup, Chief Astrid” Klaus said politely, holding out a hand to shake. “It was very…interesting to meet you.”

Hiccup smiled and took it. “The feeling’s mutual, Klaus.”

“And you’re always welcome on Berk” Astrid told him. Klaus smiled, and then turned to Magnus, who was hovering nearby.

“Goodbye, Magnus. Thank you for standing up for me; it really means a lot” he smiled at her.

“You’re welcome…” she smiled shyly at him. Then, on impulse, she leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. They were both bright red when she pulled away, and all the adults watching grinned in amusement at the sight.

Klaus hopped onto the deck of Johann’s ship. When the boat had sailed out past the icy barrier, he climbed up the rigging to the spar of the sail to get a better view of the shrinking island. He saw Toothless and Stormfly above him, Magnus perched on the Spike-Tail’s back with Astrid, all three riders waving at him. To Klaus’ delight, the orange and scarlet Fire-Scale who had saved his life, Brannild, flew up beside Toothless and let out a roar, saying goodbye.

He enthusiastically waved back, and kept his eyes turned back towards Berk until it was out of sight. One thing was for sure; he would never see dragons, or even the world, the same way again.

* * *

 _This is the freaking last time I do a job up here around these dragon-infested islands!_ This was the thought, or words to that effect, which ran through the minds of many of the bounty hunters as they tried to fight their way across this rocky, forested island, dominated by a massive dormant volcano. It was said that a dragon nearly the size of the mountain itself had dwelled within, years ago, until it had been destroyed by their target himself – the infamous Dragon Whisperer, or Conquerer, or Master, depending on who you asked.

It was said he could read the minds of the fiery beasts and force them to do his bidding; that he had enthralled a whole nest of those mysterious and deadly Night Demons, or Night Furies as they were sometimes known; that the Night Fury he rode had cursed him, or he it. There was a hefty price on his head - seven pounds worth of silver. It was almost too good to be true, but they all wanted the prestige of besting the legendary Dragon Master, along with his fiendish pets.

That, and possibly discover his true name. The one they’d all heard must be an alias; how could someone so powerful and feared have a name like _Hiccup_?

Word had spread across the grapevine, that the infamous man often came alone (but for his draconic shadow, which they’d have to take out first) to this volcanic island wilderness. At least six different bounty hunters had arrived on the island, and were now being chased, stalked or otherwise herded towards one place.

They _had_ each hired several dragon hunters to help defend them against all these wild dragons. Yet as they made their way across the island, one by one each of said hunters had been picked off. Dragged into the undergrowth. Snatched up into trees. Cut off by bursts of flame. A few had shouted “Go on without me!”, leaping in front of the snarling dragon, and the others would flee to the sounds of angry roars and terrified screams.

At last, all of the bounty hunters and the few dragon hunters who had managed to survive emerged onto a rocky beach on the far side of the volcano. There was a large hole in the side of the mountain, but that was inconsequential. What _really_ grabbed their attention was the fact that right in front of them, the Dragon Master was fighting a short, balding man – and his Night Fury was nowhere in sight.

Perhaps they wondered where the black dragon was, or why the Dragon Master seemed to be losing the fight when the other man was fighting with a shorter sword, swaying and staggering backwards _…_ None of that stopped them from rushing forwards to capture their quarry (they would’ve fought over who got the reward afterwards); but as they approached, the unthinkable occurred.

The Dragon Master made a particularly clumsy parry (wasn’t he supposed to be a great swordsman?), and his opponent (probably another bounty hunter, how the heck had _he_ got there first?) managed to disarm him…then pressed the advantage, and thrust the sword forwards. The younger man gasped, too shocked to even scream. Time itself slowed down and stopped. So did the hunters, jaws dropping – even the short balding man looked shocked, staring down at his sword buried in the Dragon Master’s chest.

Then from the depths of the cave came an unearthly shriek of horrified rage, and time restarted. The Night Fury rushed out of the cave, glowing blue and snarling viciously. The bald man yanked his sword out of the Dragon Master’s torso – it was stained crimson – and hurriedly retreated as the offspring of lightning and death itself charged forwards.

The young man collapsed to the ground. Suddenly there were dragons _everywhere,_ above and behind, roaring furiously and snapping at them, flicking weapons out of their hands. The Night Fury nudged its rider desperately, whining and then howling in grief. More dragons flew in; a young blond woman leapt from the back of a Deadly Nadder and rushed to the fallen man’s side, screaming out his (surely fake) name. “Hiccup! _Hiccup_! No!”

They were surrounded, beset on all sides by dragons; a bear of a Viking had lifted the bald man clean off his feet and was shaking him like a rag doll, bellowing “ _You killed my son! You fucking bastard, you killed my son!”_ The blond woman and another older woman were grieving over the Dragon Master’s lifeless form, and the Night Fury had not stopped that terrible, broken-hearted howling. The dragons’ jaws filled with flames, and every man there was sure that this was the end of the line for them…

They heard a bellow, and to their surprise were not immolated on the spot. The bounty hunters had ducked into defensive (see – cowering and terrified) crouches; now, they nervously looked up. The dragons were still there, on the verge of flaming at them, but the Night Fury was growling with its eyes slit and those scaly nubs around its head erect and quivering. None of them understood what was happening; how were they still alive?

The blond woman on the Nadder answered their question without being asked. “He’s holding them back” she told them, glaring with tears in her eyes, “because it’s what Hiccup would have wanted – but mark my words, bounty hunters _,_ if we _ever_ see your wretched faces here again, we will _not_ show mercy. We will destroy your weapons and set your ships ablaze. The dragons will not spare you a second time. You should thank the gods they are sparing you now. My husband was a good man, who only wanted peace, and you would have sent him to his death for nothing but hack-silver. Get out of my sight!”

The dragons provided an excellent impetus to listen to her, and all of them scrambled to get back to their ships, any ship, any way off that accursed island. Amos was a gibbering wreck; he had been in on the plan, for Thor’s sake, and yet Stoick had well and truly terrified him. Not much had changed there, then.

* * *

Once the bounty hunters were out of sight and earshot, Astrid turned back to her husband, who was lying in Valka’s arms. His chest was eerily still, face slack and pale, chest stained crimson…he really did look dead, and if it weren’t for the fact that she knew it was fake and that Toothless was still awake and well, she might have believed him so. “I can’t believe that worked” she said breathlessly, reaching out to stroke Hiccup’s cheek.

“Aye” said Stoick, “but t’ be fair, anyone who tries to attack a so-called ‘Dragon Whisperer’ on an island full o’ dragons probably isn’t the sharpest sword in th’ armoury. Speaking of swords, I have to hand it to Hiccup, this fancy fake sword he invented is pretty clever” he remarked, pushing the sword-tip against his arm brace. It collapsed back into itself, just like Hiccup’s fire-sword, and the tip was made in such a way that, whilst it appeared sharp, was actually blunt.

Astrid replied, “Well I’m sure he’ll be pleased to hear that, when he wakes up.” Valka caught sight of her expression and reassured her, “He _will_ wake up, Astrid. Frigga knows I’m worried too, I’m his mother, but Gothi was very careful with the dose. He’ll be right as rain by mid-afternoon. Don’t fret, dear…and that goes for you as well, Toothless” she said gently to the nervous dragon.

Toothless whimpered. He knew it wasn’t real, and yet the sight of Hiccup so pale and still…In some ways, his long held fear of seeing Hiccup die had been replaced by a more illogical dread of not dying with Hiccup, or vice versa. In all memory of dragons, there had never been a heart bound pair who didn’t die together…but then, there had never been a human heart bound to a dragon before, either.

Desperate for reassurance that wasn’t just well-meant words, Toothless pressed his ear to Hiccup’s chest. A human wouldn’t be able to detect it, but if he strained his hearing…and there, though faint, he could hear Hiccup’s heart beating. Toothless whimpered again in relief. Then he tore himself away from the cluster of human’s around Hiccup and approached the dragons.

He raised his head and spread his wings wide; they bowed respectfully to their Alpha. *Well done, all of you. We couldn’t have done this without you. On Hiccup’s behalf, I thank you.* The dragons began to drift away, but many of them paused to exchange reassuring nuzzles with Toothless and express hope that Hiccup would wake soon.

They laid Hiccup on a folded blanket and his dragon curled around him, stretching a wing over him to keep away the chill of the wind. All that was left to do now was wait. Astrid needed to return to Berk, but Valka and Stoick remained to watch over Hiccup. Whilst their dragons dozed on the warm rocks nearby, Valka sat beside her sons, absently stroking Hiccup’s hair or Toothless’ scales. Stoick stood and gazed out to sea; presently he said gruffly, “I hope this plan of his works.”

Valka looked up at him with a puzzled expression. “What do you mean? It did work. They all saw – well, they thought they all saw him die” she pointed out.

“Aye, but what happens next? This isn’t going t’ stay quiet. Pretty soon, everyone in the archipelago an’ beyond is gonna think Hiccup is dead, and then all the dragon hunters will come around tryin’ to take our dragons, and what about the allies he’s made out there? Think how they’ll feel, when they hear word he’s dead! And you know what he’s like, Val, he can’t keep t’ himself, he’s as subtle as a rampaging Thunderclaw - what’s so funny?” he demanded.

Valka was struggling to catch her breath. “I’m sorry, it’s just…I never thought I’d hear Stoick the Vast, the man who used to think the best way to solve any problem was to whack it with a hammer, _fretting_.”

Stoick scowled deeply. Well, he’d call it a scowl, Valka called it a pout. “I am not fretting” he protested, indignant. “I’m a Viking, we don’t fret.”

“Well, it sounds like fretting to me” she teased him, rising to her feet and walking over. “Stoick, love, I don’t know what will happen after this – but whatever happens, we’ll face it together. As a family. And who knows? Maybe thinking he’s gone will keep all these horrible people from holding a grudge against our son.”

Stoick sighed, relaxing a bit, and kissed his wife in gratitude. Toothless watched them; not for the first time, he wondered what his own parents would have made of Hiccup. After a while he had to leave Hiccup’s side to relieve himself; when he returned, his brother still hadn’t stirred. His skin had regained its colour, he was breathing normally; he no longer looked dead, but Toothless much preferred when he was awake, and smiling.

*Hiccup? Please wake up. It’s been ages* he pleaded, licking his rider’s face. That never failed to rouse him on normal days, but this was not a normal day. Sighing, Toothless lay down and nudged his snout under Hiccup’s hand, trying to pretend the man was petting him. He closed his eyes…and a few minutes later, he felt Hiccup’s fingers curl and scratch his nose.

Toothless sat bolt upright, dislodging the hand on his nose, to stare hopefully down at his human. Hiccup stirred, and moaned, and opened his eyes. When he saw Toothless looming over him, he smiled. *Hey, you.*

*Finally!* Toothless gave a bark of joy, his whole body wiggling in delight. He dropped his head to nuzzle and lick his other half repeatedly; Hiccup squirmed, still too weak to push him away. *Toothless, stop!* he protested.

*You can’t stop me!* the dragon crowed gleefully, refusing to cease until Hiccup was properly covered in _this Swift-Wing loves this human_ scent. He caught one of Hiccup’s flailing hands in toothless gums and carefully pulled him up to a sitting position. “Over-excited lizard” Hiccup teased, stroking him and smearing his own spit over his scales. “This isn’t becoming of an Alpha” he declared.

*We’re not each other’s Alphas* Toothless retorted, before adding *You need to shave. I don’t like how your beard feels on my tongue.*

“So you’ve said. All the more reason for me to keep it” Hiccup retorted, using Toothless as a crutch to haul himself to his feet. Once he was standing he felt steady enough, and looked up at someone’s approach. “Hey, mom.”

“Hello, son. How are you feeling?”

“Well rested, that’s for sure.” He stretched, yawned and added, “Also starving.”

“Well, let’s head home and get you something to eat” she encouraged.

“Yeah, and a bath.”

*What? No!*

* * *

For two years now, Adulfr had festered in this prison, and hatred had festered in his heart. He had lost _everything_ – his freedom, his opportunity for greatness, the respect of his tribe, his beloved wolves – and it was all the fault of that sanctimonious Dragon Whisperer, Hiccup Haddock. The man was weak; he probably thought it was a mercy, to leave his enemy to rot.

Fortunately for his sanity, if he had much left, Adulfr still had the loyalty of several in his tribe. They kept him appraised of outside events, and placed a bounty on Hiccup’s head on his behalf. If just one man could deliver his enemy to him, Adulfr would reward them handsomely (though not with nearly as much as the bounty suggested), and take great pleasure in killing Haddock, slowly and painfully. He was sure Skadi, Fenrir and the others would be eager to assist.

Word had now reached Adulfr – indeed, the whole Wolf Fang tribe – that the Dragon Whisperer was dead. Nobody seemed to know the details, but several bounty hunters had seen Haddock fighting one of them alone (some guy called Amos, whom most of his contemporaries knew as a fool with a bigger fool for muscle), only to be stabbed in the chest. His dragon, wife and parents had rushed in, and that blond bitch Astrid had made some speech about how if they tried to attack Berk now that it’s greatest defender was dead, they would entirely regret it.

Adulfr had always held contempt for the intelligence of bounty hunters. Harald had been promising, until he hadn’t been, and now he’d killed himself, the coward. Really, though, did Haddock take him for a fool? Adulfr knew damn well that the Night Fury never left his rider’s side, so his absence was already suspicious – and his family flying in mere moments after he’d been stabbed, as if they’d been waiting for it…Adulfr had seen how Hiccup’s sword could retract back into its handle. It wasn’t much of a stretch to imagine him inventing a fake sword that would harmlessly collapse when ‘stabbed’ into someone. It was clear, though apparently only to him ( _figures_ ) that Haddock’s death was staged.

Under the cover of a carefully staged attack, Harald’s crew had escaped from Berserker Island and broken Adulfr out of prison. He was now aboard a vessel sailing away from Myrkr. He had brought Skadi with him; of all his wolf-companions, she had taken the best to long voyages. Now, as he stood on the f’castle, his newly self-declared second-in-command Savage asked “What do we do now, sir? Are we heading to Berk?”

“No. Not yet, at least.” Let the dragon riders think their little ploy had him fooled; he’d play along for now. “Haddock might be dead, but as his wife pointed out, we’d still have all those dragons to contend with. No, we need to prepare. Fight fire with fire, as it were. It just so happens that I’ve been working on a way to even the score for years now; but more progress must be made, before we can make our move. Trust me, Savage; when we strike, those dragon lovers will never see it coming.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) A draugr is an undead creature from Norse mythology.
> 
> (2) Since the DOTW don’t exist in this continuity, I had to come up with an alternative reason for the conflict in the episode ‘Snuffnut’. Or I could have ignored it, but I can see Tuffnut faking his death just to mess with everyone, only for it to completely backfire. Because twins.
> 
> (3) When Toothless is imposing his Will upon his and Hiccup’s subjects, all the frills on his head (including his ear-flaps) vibrate, much like the spines on the head of a Bewilderbeast. Just to be clear, it isn’t mind control – only the Giants can do that, and only the malevolent ones will - but more like a strong compulsion. It can be ignored, or overridden, but the dragons in their flock are quite happy to obey their Alphas. It also doesn’t work on dragons who aren’t part of their pack.
> 
> (4) Borrowed with permission from ‘Sarahenany’.


End file.
